Genesis
by StandardToast
Summary: Being paired up with a trigger-happy medic and a smiling, idiotic best friend was not Sasuke's idea of a compatible team. But then again, fate always seemed to have a sense of humour. Rated for language and mild violence. If you like it, review!
1. Alpha

"_This is a nice easy patrol, don't get your panties in a twist!" _he had told him "_Don't be such a drama queen and just hurry up or we'll be late!"_

"_What a fucking liar…_" Sasuke thought to himself as more gunfire echoed through the streets. More gunfire ripped into his rapidly shrinking cover. He watched as chunks of plaster and concrete flew over his head. He huddled into a small ball as the gunfire continued to blast the small wall he was hiding behind. Sasuke waited until he heard the gun stop firing.

He smirked

_Time to die, mofo_

Sasuke gripped his plasma pistol and whipped out his head from behind his wall. He took aim and fired. He watched as the surprised Oni's head was blasted off, followed by a satisfying splatter of blood.

_Damn I'm good_

He quickly got to his feet and ran over to where the creature's remains lay. He gazed at the monstrosity's form in disgust, its gnarled hands were bloodied and its nails were black and chipped. He didn't even want to begin about how it stunk. He quickly grabbed the creature's ammo and grenades and made his way up the street. As he was nearing the end of the block, he heard more gunfire crack and watched as an explosion ripped through a building. He ducked for cover as a voice crackled into his ear.

"_We are experiencing some…..technical difficulties and some back-up would be greatly appreciated, maybe sometime before next year!"_

Sasuke heaved a sigh and padded his way down the street. The volume of the gunfire increased and he could now hear the yelling from the men and creatures on opposing sides. Sasuke sprinted for cover as bullets began to rain down on him.

"Looks like you came just in time for the party, otouto"

Sasuke glanced at his older brother, who was crouched behind a misplaced concrete divider. Itachi held a shotgun in his hand and Sasuke saw his brother's trade mark sniper rifle strapped to his back.

"It's not a party until I'm here" Sasuke smirked in reply

"Don't get too arrogant, foolish little brother. If we are to be victorious, I'm going to need your help so I can get Yumi into action" Itachi said, gesturing to his prized sniper rifle.

Sasuke rolled his eyes internally, only his brother could name a weapon.

"What do you need me to do?"

"I need cover fire so I can make it to that building over there"

Sasuke glanced to the building that his brother was pointing at. Well, you couldn't really call it a building, more like a teetering death trap. The walls actually looked like they were groaning and straining to try and hold themselves up and the walls were riddled with bullets. As he ducked his head to avoid getting it blown off, Sasuke groaned internally.

_This was going to be a freaking joyride_

"Fine, but if I get my face blown off because of you, I'll make sure to haunt in this life and the next."

"I'm sure your fangirls will haunt me as well, and they are much more intimidating then you'll ever be."

Sasuke grimaced at the thought of the dreaded banshees waiting for him back at Elysium. He grabbed his assault rifle off of his back and readied himself. He took a deep inhale and closed his eyes.

_Ok, let's do this_

Sasuke's eyes ripped open to reveal spinning crimson orbs. He whipped his rifle around and took aim. He sprayed the encroaching enemies with bullets and roared at Itachi to move his ass. His vision took in all of his surroundings. His own personal peripheral. He took aim at an Oni in the process of lifting its head. His rifle cracked to life and the Oni went down. And another. And another. Sasuke smirked to himself.

_Just don't know when to crawl back into their holes._

He quickly glanced over to where Itachi was. The dark haired man was disappearing into the building. Sasuke sighed with relief and ducked back into his cover, shutting his eyes long enough to let the crimson to seep out of his eyes. He soon heard the sound of Itachi's _precious _rifle going off, with its deafening crack. He watched as the head of the Oni closest to him was obliterated, as well as the creature next to it. The stench of death began to flood his senses as he watched the pool of blood rush across the ground, towards him.

Sasuke decided to move to a better position, one that assured he wouldn't get nasty Oni blood on his "clean" armour. He heard more cracks echo from the building Itachi was residing in and briefly saw another Oni in the process of being eradicated.

"Oh baby!!!! Did you see how far that bitch's head flew!!!!"

Sasuke turned, and without much surprise, saw his blond teammate's head poking out from behind a ruined car. The boy's eyes were wide with excitement.

"Shouldn't you be fighting, dobe?"

"I'll have you know, teme, I was owning them severely before your pansy-ass got here!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he took out another Oni that was attempting to sneak up on them. He watched as the blood erupted out of the holes in its chest.

_Satisfaction_

"Ew, teme, were you… just… smiling….."

Sasuke glared at the dirt-smeared face of his idiotic teammate.

"No. I had an involuntary twitch of my lips in the upwards direction." Sasuke snapped out.

"Right, and I'm a-

A guttural roar echoed from the behind the enemy's front line. Both boys covered their ears as the sound ripped into them. Sasuke watched in sick fascination as their surroundings trembled and shook from the intense noise. Another shriek resounded from the now quiet battlefield. Sasuke raised his head to survey the landscape in front of them, looking for anything out of the ordinary (basically, anything that hadn't been blown-up or shot-at).

"What the fuck was that…"

Sasuke glanced back at Naruto, whose eyes were widened in apprehension. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders as a creeping feeling of dread began to inch up his spine.

"Whatever it is, it doesn't sound pleasant" replied Sasuke, to preoccupied with trying to quell the feeling of fear to offer a scathing comment. Just as he had it under control, he felt a vibration shake through the ground, and a few second later, another.

Both of boys looked at each other as the vibrations grew stronger and the surrounding area became to crumble slightly. Sasuke racked his brain trying to come up with a rational answer.

_Grenades, rockets, maybe a vehicle of some sort…._

"Uh, teme, I don't mean to interrupt the quality time you're having with yourself, but I think we are officially screwed."

Sasuke glanced to where Naruto was pointing.

_Oh Shit_


	2. Beta

_No._

_Freaking. _

_Way._

Sasuke's eyes widened as he gazed at what Naruto was pointing at. A voice in the back of his head was screaming at him to run as fast as he could in the opposite direction, but currently, that little voice was being drowned out by Naruto's profanities.

"What the SHIT is THAT!!! WHAT THE SHIT-

Naruto's voice was wiped out by another ear-piercing bellow erupting from across the enemy's front line. Sasuke watched the monstrosity thunder its way up the street and towards him and Naruto. The behemoth that was fast approaching was unlike anything Sasuke, and evidently Naruto, had ever seen before. It was easily as tall as any of the buildings in the surrounding area and equally as large. Its eyes seem to suck the light out of the surrounding area and transform it into darkness and its deformed body lumbered painfully towards their position. It had crude battle armour attached to its sickeningly twisted body and Sasuke could barely make out an Oni's disgusting form on top of the beast. Sasuke shuddered as he saw a trio of the remnants of Delta squad being crushed under the creature's clawed foot. All he could hear was the anguished scream of one of soldiers as the monstrosity picked up his squirming body and ripped it in half.

_move Sasuke, Move, MOVE_

Sasuke ripped himself out of his state of frozen fear and grabbed Naruto's arm, effectively tearing Naruto out of his trance.

"We've got to move!! Run to the buildings!!" Sasuke shouted to Naruto, as they tripped over themselves and the strewn pieces of shrapnel and rubble.

"_I highly suggest you and Naruto- kun move a little bit faster if you wish to live any longer, otouto…"_

"No shit, captain obvious!!!!" Naruto screamed into his radio.

The teammates were in the process of sprinting down the street, when they heard a sudden succession of gunshots echo out of the building in front of them. Sasuke heard the creature behind them bellow in agony and rage.

_Show off._

"_If you two would be so kind to provide a distraction for the Cerebus, I may have a higher probability of destroying it."_Itachi's voice crackled into their ears.

"Ok three things, A- that things has a name?, B- WHAT THE SHIT, and C- WHAT THE SHIT!!"Naruto bellowed into his radio yet again and Sasuke winced as Naruto's voice crackled into his head on both sides.

"Shut it dobe, let's just do this!!!"

Sasuke whirled around and sprayed the Cerebus with bullets. The creature, which was making its way towards Itachi's position, roared in anger and made a new course for Sasuke and Naruto. Again, the two boys heard another quick succession of gun shots and the behemoth let out a pitiful wail as the bullets made contact with its head. Again, Sasuke and Naruto aimed at the creatures head and emptied their magazines into it. The creature let out an agonizing scream as the bullets ripped into its flesh. The Cerebus began to stumble towards the two teammates, now blinded by rage and pain, its black teeth gnashing together in anticipation of ripping its food into fun-sized chunks. Sasuke heard his brother firing more shots into the beast, having no effect now the thing had gone insane with fury. One final gun shot cracked through the chaos and Sasuke watched in horror as the creature continued its rampaging path towards him and Naruto. He could see the bullet make contact with the Cerebus' hideous eye and the creature let out a final blood-curdling screech. It took a few more stumbling steps towards the boys, when it began to fall forwards, life having left its eyes.

Sasuke then put two-and-two together and realized that he and Naruto were about to get squashed beneath 10 tonnes of falling Cerebus.

"MOVE MOVE MOVE!!" Sasuke yelled at Naruto, turning to run, fresh adrenaline coursing through his veins. His tired muscles creaked to life and he flew farther down the street desperately trying to escape the falling mass of flesh. A sickeningly wet thump resounded from behind him and both he and Naruto were thrown forward by the impact of the creature hitting the cracked ground. Sasuke growled as his world slowly stopped spinning.

"A nice, fucking, easy patrol I believe this was supposed to be, right dobe?" growled Sasuke in the general direction of the blond's slumped form.

"Well, it was and there is no need to PMS at me Sasuke, we'll get you some Midol when we get back to Elysium."

Sasuke felt the bloodlust rising in him again as Naruto's words spewed from his mouth.

"What was that, idiot?" Sasuke seethed

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't mind being friend with a woman, just don't expect me to paint your nails or massage your feet or anything. Besides, I'm already taken-

Naruto was cut short by the impact of a fist on his head.

"Ouch, teme, I'm not lying, I'm just honest"

"You're going to be a woman by the time I'm done with you, you freak!!" Sasuke bellowed at his blond friend. Sasuke lifted his sore body off the ground and kicked Naruto in the side.

"Fuck, stop that!!! Don't hate me for telling you the truth" Naruto blurted out as he was beginning to dash away from the raging dark-haired boy behind him.

Sasuke set his body into motion again, screaming at the poor blond boy that he was going to personally castrate him.

Itachi smirked at the comical scene his little brother and his best friend were performing down below, arms failing and Naruto and Sasuke screaming at each other. The Cerebus lay forgotten, slumped like a wet rag on the concrete. More of Delta squadron came stumbling up the street, having ducked for cover when the Cerebus first appeared. The dazed looking men blinked at the Cerebus, then at the two boys who were currently pulling at each other's hair. Itachi observed that the men looked quite confused as they made the connection between Sasuke and Naruto, and the fallen Cerebus. He let a smile play across his lips as the looks of disbelief began to form across the men's face.

He'd always had a sick sense of humour.

.

.

**A/N**- I'll be updating sporadically because some weeks nothing happens, and then the next couple will be insane. I hope you guys like the story so far, and Sakura will be making her appearance in the next couple of chapters.

**Cerebus**- name inspired by Greek mythology, in which it is the three-headed guardian of Hades or basically a nasty, giant, three- headed, flesh-eating dog.

Reviews are always appreciated 

*coughclickthebuttoncough*


	3. Gamma

From an outsider looking in, Elysium would not seem that amazing, barely distinguishing itself from the surrounding eviscerated landscape, but to many, it was a symbol of hope, resistance and freedom. It was a collection of pock-marked buildings; all surrounded by a wall that was composed of a collection of scrap metal, concrete blocks and various assortments of material. Of the few human settlements scattered across the land, Elysium was one of the few that had been able to resist the onslaught of Oni attacks. This was mainly due to the fact that it had its own organized military force and many of the soldiers that were part of it had prior experience with warfare in some way or another.

_Or maybe because the Onis had heard the fan-girls… _Itachi mused to himself.

Itachi had never been a particularly humorous person; he rarely found a reason to laugh in these dire times. Often, he could hear people talking to each other about him, wondering if he had ever developed the actual facial muscles that made smiling possible, or if he had some sort of brain imbalance. He never really paid attention to those gossip-mongers; they often sickened him with their nosy personas and obsession on knowing anything and everything about the people of Elysium. He preferred to leave to his own quarters after a mission and relax in solitude until he was called on for debriefing.

But today was a different day, and he wondered if this was kind of sign that he should lighten up.

He couldn't help but let a laugh slip through his lips as he watched his younger brother get crushed under a teeming mass of hysterically screaming girls. He had tried to keep his face stoic, but it was just too hard as he observed his brother vanish in a short span of five seconds. He couldn't help but notice the concerned looks people gave him as he held his sides and struggled to get his laugh under control.

Meanwhile, poor Sasuke's sides were on the verge of splitting as girl-upon-girl clambered to get close to him. All he could hear was shrieking and crying, and followed by more shrieking and crying.

_Maybe I should have just let the Cerebus crush me instead…_

Occasionally, he could hear the dobe laughing, between the breaks in the shrieking, accompanied by an odd, obnoxious snicker of some sort. He grimaced and started to make his escape out of the disgusting, yowling mass of girls.

_Did someone just grab my butt…?_

"Ok girls that's enough, I think Sasuke has had too much excitement for the day and he going to need his warriors rest!" Sasuke heard a surprisingly male voice yell, which sounded suspiciously like Naruto.

"But he must be horribly traumatized after battling a Cerebus!!" one girl yelled back. The girls turned their attention to Naruto, giving Sasuke enough time to make his escape from their clutches.

All he could do is groan and cover his face.

"C'mon Casanova, it's time to go to debriefing, that is of course, if you are done romancing half the female population of Elysium…"

Sasuke ripped open his eyes and glared and Naruto.

"My threat still stands, you know that right…?" Sasuke seethed out at the blond.

Naruto just flashed him a smile and hauled Sasuke to his feet.

"Sorry girls, you'll have to wait, but you know, I'm always here if you get lonely…" Naruto wriggled his eyebrows at the dumbfounded girls.

"Um, we'll have to pass on that…"

Naruto's expression fell and Sasuke couldn't help but let a cruel smile flit across his lips. Sasuke turned to face his brother, who was surprisingly red-faced and teary-eyed, but Sasuke just left it to the fact his brother was never that sound anyways.

"Are you coming…?"

Itachi nodded with a smirk and began to stride forward in front of the two younger males. Sasuke and Naruto followed suit and made their way towards the main building in Elysium.

The trio entered the main building in Elysium, which seemed to be one of the few remnants from before the war. He had heard someone say that it was an old "hotel", whatever that was.

The three teammates made their way through the run-down halls ways, passing the injured and displaced clogging the hallways. There were more and more people trickling in each day, claiming that there was a large army of Oni massing in the north and it had been sweeping through the land like a plague. There had been such an influx of refugees lately, it wasn't hard to believe.

When they made it to the main office, more like one of the only rooms with a door, Itachi knock quietly on the door and stood back. A few seconds later, the door opened to a flustered looking boy.

"Of thank Kami-sama, you guys are here, Sarutobi been throwing a fit!" the boy sputtered out as he ushered them in. They followed the boy down the small hallway to the main office. Sasuke internally groaned as he made his way into the small room and stood next to Naruto.

_This was going to take ages…_

Itachi, the captain of the team, began to address the elderly man sitting behind a splintered desk, "Sarutobi-sama, we encountered a minor inconvenience during our patrol of-"

Sasuke frowned as he heard Sarutobi let out a small chuckle.

"Oh yes, I heard all about the "minor inconvenience", dealt with quite swiftly I understand?"

All three nodded.

"Well, I congratulate the three of you for eliminating the threat before it could reach this city. You have my gratitude."

Sasuke felt and elbow nudged his side and he glared at Naruto, who was wiggling his eyebrows at him.

_Idiot_

"But despite your heroic actions, I have unfortunately received another mission for you three to complete."

Sasuke internalized a snicker when Naruto's eyebrows froze in mid-wiggle.

"BUT SARUTOBI!!!! We just finished a mission, can't we have break?!!! I mean, it's only-"

Sasuke groaned and he heard his brother do the same.

"Naruto, I believe you should exercise the utmost politeness while address a superior." Itachi said with a flat tone. Sasuke could sense the venom laced in it though and smirked at the thought of the verbal beat-down Naruto was going to receive once they had left the room.

"YA, I Know, but we just got back from a mission!!" Naruto wailed out, oblivious to the impending doom "and we should at least-"

"And that is why we need your team to leave on this mission, Naruto-", Sarutobi said in a strained voice."- and since you seem to be highly skilled and experienced, we have no other choice but to send you, all the other teams are on missions."

Sasuke could hear the dobe inhaling to start another juvenile rant, but his brother quickly blurted out a reply.

"We are honoured by your expectations of us, and we will gladly accept the mission, Sarutobi-sama." Sasuke heard the dobe whimper and took a quick glance over to his idiotic friend, whose foot was currently getting smushed into the ground by Itachi's. Sasuke couldn't help but smirk.

"Very well, you will be sent to investigate an outlander bunker located north-east of Elysium. We last had contact with them a week ago, and it is vital we establish communication with them again. Find out why communication has stopped and if the worst has come to them, try to find survivors and bring them, back to Elysium. Understood?"

All three echoed their reply, "understood Sarutobi-sama."

"Excellent, Itachi here are the details, and good luck."

Itachi stepped forward and picked up a small spherical object and set it in his jacket pocket. The three boys bowed and made their way to the exit.

"Oh, and one more thing. Naruto, don't do anything stupid."

Itachi shoved the blustering blond out of the room before a battle could break out.

**A/N:** sorry for the incredibly long wait, school has been hectic, as well as work. Anyway, I've started the fourth chapter, so it should be up soon. I seem to get hit by my muses at 12am as well, so I'm a wee bit tired right now.

Any Constructive criticism, questions, comments and reviews (duh) are welcome!

The little button yearns for the caressing clicks of your mouse…


	4. Delta

"_The following information is classified, scanning for identification"_

Sasuke watched as the little orb that Sarutobi had given Itachi whirred to life and began emitting rays of light, covering the surrounding area in a soft yellow light. The beams of light ran themselves over him and his two other companions.

"_Identification process completed. Welcome Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. You have been authorized to view this information. Please select desired information."_

"Mission details"

"_Thank-you! Uploading information now"_

The small orb began to glow brighter and a holographic image of Sarutobi's head popped out of the machine. Sasuke smirked at the sight of Naruto narrowing his eyes at the translucent image of light.

"_By now you should have made it out of the city. The following message was the last bit of information that we received from the outlander bunker. It is the only information we have on the potential situation at the compound. Watch carefully."_

Sarutobi's pre-recorded voice and image popped back into the machine and the animatronic voice bleeped out of the little device yet again.

"_Now commencing video and audio clip, once played, it will only be able to be played one more time before deletion. Thank-you!" _

The three males watched another head pop out of the device. It was impossible to determine the gender of the person, since they had a full-face helmet covering their head, but from the sound of the person's voice, it seemed to be of a feminine quality. Sasuke eyebrows knitted together as the garbled speech began.

"_This is bunker 7, requesting aid from Elysium. We have had a series of strange occurrences that have been occurring in the last few hours. An Oni attack had not been confirmed, nor detected. We need-"_

The female voice was cut out by a loud crash, distorting the sound from the small speakers. The three males winced as the noise reverberated through their heads. Screaming could be heard from the audio and suddenly the disembodied head began speaking again, this time faster, and with a lot more "choice" words.

"_SHIT!! IF ANYONE CAN HEAR THIS, WE ARE IN DIRE NEED OF ASSISTANCE, ANY-"_

The voice was cut out again by the crackle of gunfire and the holographic head disappeared yet again. The same voice could be heard off-screen screaming at someone else.

"_What the HELL!! Get away! Who or What the FUCK are you!!!I'm warning you, get away from me!!"_

More gunfire echoed out of the device, louder now, and it shivered across the table from the loud noises. The teammates glanced at each other and were about to begin discussing the clip, when the head popped back into the screen. The female's helmet had blood smeared over it and a dent could be seen in the side.

"_If there is anyone out there, Bunker 7 needs assistance immediately! Oh god, please someone come help us. We-"_

The pleading speech was cut out as a final scream resonated out of the device and the screen went black. Sasuke gazed at the device, hoping that the head would pop back on screen and tell them that there was nothing to be afraid of, they had saved the day, but nothing more came. He noted that Naruto was strangely quiet and had no idiotic comment to make on the file. He quickly filtered through the possibilities that had befallen Bunker 7. The speaker had said that there had been no Oni attacks detected, and the person had also seemed confused went confronted by the unknown enemy. That might not rule out Onis, but perhaps there was something else happening. He turned his gaze towards his brother, who seemed to be mulling over the possibilities as well.

"Nii-san, I don't think this is such a good idea. It seemed something, I don't know what, but something has happened to them and it did not seem like it was anything we have ever dealt with before…"

Itachi made no move to acknowledge his younger brother's words. His eyebrows creased together in concentration. It was at these times that Sasuke saw the stress on Itachi's face that seemed to make him appear much older, and much more stressed, than some one of the age of twenty-two. Ever since the two brothers had been left to fend for themselves, Itachi had been the constant pillar of strength and stability. It was his ability to always think two steps ahead of everyone and everything else that had made them survive so long, and Sasuke was guessing Itachi was using that skill right now to assess their situation.

"The mission was given to us, and it is our duty to complete it. If there were any survivors, it is our duty to find them and escort them back to Elysium." Itachi said in a monotone voice. Sasuke could tell that the video had peeked Itachi's interest and he could imagine the gears in his mind clicking into life and formulating a plan.

"We shall continue forward until we reach Bunker 7. I want all of us to exercise extreme caution from now on. If you see anything unusual, do not hesitate to vocalize it, no matter how insignificant it seems. Sasuke, be prepared to activate your Sharingan at any given moment. Naruto, likewise with your Kyuubi. We were given these curses; we might as well use them."

The two boys nodded. Sasuke could feel the unpleasant feeling of dread creeping up his spine as they pressed forward. Although the lands outside of Elysium were often quiet and deserted, the recent development made them seem more sinister. Every shadow seemed to be the on-coming unknown enemy and he observed that Naruto twitched at every unusual sound.

_We're freaking ourselves out over nothing…_

_I hope…_

The trio made their way cautiously towards the location of the bunker, which was situated a fair distance from Elysium, and soon the night began to descend around them. Sasuke shivered as the temperature dropped significantly and glanced at his brother, who showed no signs of stopping.

"Nii-san, it's starting to get dark and the temperature is dropping, I think it would be a good idea to stop for the-"Sasuke began to utter out.

Itachi's hand immediately made its way to Sasuke's mouth to cover it. His eyes widened in surprise and annoyance, but he quickly realized that Itachi had sensed something. His hand immediately flew to his pistol and his eyes flashed crimson to match his brother's. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Naruto had clued in as well (_what a surprise…_) and saw the scars on his face begin to thicken and darken while the blue leaked from his irises to be replaced by another shade of red. Sasuke concentrated on his surroundings and tried to pick out what Itachi had sensed before. He flitted from left to right, but still, he could not sense any life form other than themselves. He risked a look at Itachi, who seemed to be listening for something, rather than looking for something. What seemed like hours passed before Itachi spoke, his eyes melting back into jet and his shoulders relaxing slightly.

"False alarm, I thought I heard something. We will set up camp for the night."

Itachi turned and walked into a nearby building to search out a secure campsite for the night. Sasuke sighed as he watched his brother's back disappear into the building and Sasuke shook off the adrenaline that was coursing its way through his veins. As he turned to follow his brother, he felt Naruto's hand on his shoulder. He turned to face the blond, whose features had returned to normal, and cocked his eyebrow.

"I know this might sound weird, but I heard something too-" Sasuke opened his mouth to tell Naruto to be quiet, but the blond continued forward. "-and don't tell me to shut-up, because I know what I heard, it was a strange clicking noise, and it stopped once our attention was focused. Itachi knows too I bet, but he isn't telling us, probably because he thinks it's better if we weren't nervous."

Sasuke, too tired to argue, agreed with a mumble and began to walk into the building Itachi had wandered into. He found Itachi easily enough, after walking through various hallways and secret passages. Without looking up, Itachi addressed Sasuke

"I'll take first watch tonight, and go find Naruto, he's probably lost already."

Sasuke sighed.

"_Nii-san!Nii-san! I found some food today! Look!" Sasuke squeaked excitedly._

"_Found you say? Or 'borrowed' as you like to put it?" Itachi said calmly, an edge of humour in his voice._

_Sasuke huffed at his older brother's insinuation. "NO! A nice lady gave it to me; she had a pretty dress on and said if I was as cute as I was hungry, she should buy me some food." Sasuke again shoved the small food stuff in his brother's face with much zeal._

"_Well, that was a very kind thing she did, go enjoy it, I'm not hungry right now Sasuke" Itachi said as he patted Sasuke on the head._

"_But nii-san, you're never hungry!! How about you have what I can't eat?"_

"_Alright then."_

_Sasuke smiled and sat down and began to stuff his mouth with food. He couldn't believe how good it tasted!! And she had thrown in an apple too!!This was better than any food he had every 'borrowed' from the stall vendors. He turned to share the good news with Itachi, but found no one. His eyes widened and he stood up and clenched his small hand around his bag of food._

"_Nii-san!!!"_

_He stepped forward and felt his foot hit a puddle of water. He puzzled at the sensation; there wasn't any water around here. He gazed down to see a pool of blood staining his torn shoes. His eyes widened and he felt fear begin to well up inside him._

"_NII-SAN!!!" he screamed, suddenly feeling very alone and very scared. He began to run, the surrounding landscapes twisting into a sickening mutation of its former self. He felt bile rising in his throat as the streets turned crimson._

"_NII-SAAA-_

Sasuke woke with a start as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He immediately reached for his concealed knife and unsheathed it all in one movement. The body attached to the hand jumped back ward and Sasuke's vision began to clear, revealing a very white Naruto with an inch of hair missing off the front of his head.

"Holy crap, that must have been one fucked up dream you were having! I'll let Itachi wake you up next time so he can get a free haircut too." Naruto's face began to fill with colour once again, the threat of getting his head sliced off currently suspended. Sasuke blinked a few times and sheathed his knife, smirking all the while.

"Just checking your reflexes, dobe"

Naruto stuck out his tongue in return. Sasuke decide to ignore him and turned his gaze on his brother, who had been sitting, observing their idiosyncrasies. A shiver ran through Sasuke, as his dream flashed through his mind and involuntary shudder coursed up his spine. He then realized that he hadn't been awoken to take watch, since he saw light filtering through the door and both his teammates were awake. He raised a questioning eyebrow at his sibling. Itachi mirrored his expression in return. Sasuke knew it was useless to argue and began to pack his things.

"We'll soon be at the location of bunker 7. I want everyone to exercise extreme caution. Understood?"

Sasuke and Naruto both nodded and Sasuke saw Naruto gulp in fearful anticipation. The teammates padded down the deserted and destroyed streets silently, trying to arouse as little attention as possible to whatever was out there. Sasuke noted that there were no obvious signs of any destruction in their current position, unusual since the audio on the tape made it seem like there was a mass explosion. They continued farther down the stretches of street, occasionally stopping to assess their position relative to bunker 7. At the last check, they were only a few streets away from their target, and Sasuke began to feel his nerves acting up as they dear nearer, sensing something amiss. He glanced at his other teammates, who seemed unaffected by his feeling. He shook it off but decided to risk his Sharingan just to check the area. His eyes flickered into crimson and he immediately stopped in his tracks. Itachi and Naruto turned with questioning looks written across their faces. Sasuke took a slow intake of breath and voiced his fears:

"So, we're surrounded …"

_Ah crap _

**A/N:** Sorry for leaving you guys with a cliffie, but panic not, I assure you the next couple chapters will be kick-ass. Well, at least I hope. I'll be on vacation for a week and a half, so don't expect any updates until then. Rest assured though, I will be working on Genesis during that time. I've already had some pretty awesome ideas. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it and remember:

…_Review… _

Whoa, what was that? Must have been the wind…

but seriously, it helps, makes me feel like I'm doing an okay job.

p.s-OMG *fangirlsqueal*. Watchmen looks so good!! Can't wait to see it, and Rorschach, because he's the most bad-ass of all bad-asses.


	5. Epsilon

The fear hit him like a shock wave.

Often in these situations, Sasuke would never panic, he could remain calm, composed, and maybe, _maybe, _unsettled. But never scared, Uchihas were never _scared_. But at this moment, Sasuke was wondering if he had been adopted. He felt the heat from Naruto turning Kybuui brush against him, and he bet that Itachi's eyes were flooding red. His own eyes had their own crimson flowing through them, and he gazed at the forms that were currently surrounding the trio. He focused in on one and tried to sum up what they were currently up against. His fear lessen slightly as he realized that the forms were human, not Oni. At least they stood a slight chance now….

He turned his face towards his brother to tell him the "good" news, but it seems, as per usual, Itachi was 10 steps ahead.

"Ï know Sasuke, but something isn't right, stay on guard." he murmured

Sasuke nodded and readied his rifle, as did Naruto. He swallowed and clenched his weapon, trying to stem the fear that he felt.

The teammates slowly made their way forward, cautiously watching the hidden forms that were scattered throughout the surrounding destroyed buildings and streets. An eerie sense of foreboding made its way up Sasuke's spine as they continued forward.

_Why weren't they attacking…?_

As if they could read his mind, Sasuke watched as one of the men sauntered out of a nearby building and sat himself down on a misplaced divider, waiting for them to make their way closer. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the seemingly arrogant man waiting calmly half a block away. He had strange silver hair that was pulled into a short ponytail at the base of his neck, and ugly, round glasses at the bridge of his nose.

_What a tool_

Itachi signalled to stop and the two boys halted in apprehension. The silver-haired _idiot _smiled and pushed himself off the divider.

"It's not often that we meet fellow humans in the outskirts, and hostile ones at that. Why don't you put your weapons away so we can have a nice little chat."

Sasuke watched a smirk flit across Itachi's face and waited for him to give an order.

"And you should show a common courtesy and order your men to out their weapons away as well, since you are a fellow human, correct?"

Sasuke watched as a smile formed on the stranger lips and a small chuckle slipped through his lips. The man made his way closer towards them, and Sasuke watched as Itachi's eyes flooded with a darker red. Something was happening and he and Naruto seemed to be excluded from it.

"Speaking of common courtesy, I believe I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Kabuto, and the men you seem to sense are my associates. We are hired for special missions that require a more, for a lack of a better way of putting it, _professional_ touch."

Sasuke glared at Kabuto and glanced at Itachi for a signal, anything, to tell him and Naruto what to do. He did nothing.

"Our names are of no concern of yours. Much like you we are on a mission as well, and it is best if we went our separate ways so that we both can complete our missions. Standing around and talking is not going to get either of them done. Since we have nothing further to discuss, my team will make its way forward and we bid you good luck with your mission."

Itachi held up his hand and gestured them to move forward, but as he signalled, Sasuke heard Kabuto speak again.

"Oh, you aren't going anywhere you sillies, you see, you _are _the mission."

Sasuke's eyes widened, and suddenly the men, whose presence had gone relatively gone unnoticed before, appeared out of the cracks and crevasses in which they had been hiding. Itachi roared at them to run, which was unnecessary since both he and Naruto's legs were already in motion. Sasuke heard Kabuto yell something and he heard Itachi shout out in pain. He turned and saw his brother stumble and fall to his knees in agony.

"Nii-san!!" he yelled out and turned to run back to his brother, who was struggling to stand up.

"No Sasuke, get out of here, run!" Sasuke heard him choke out. He didn't't care, he wasn't about to lose his only family.

"Fuck you, I'm not leaving you behind!"

He slid beside his brother and wrapped his arm around Itachi's waste and pulled him up. He heard Itachi whisper to him that he was an idiot and to run as his body went limp and he slumped over Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes widened and he felt his rage begin to bubble up inside him. He laid his brother's limp form on the ground and his Sharingan flared crimson as his anger built up. He was about to spray the _motherfuckers _that had done this to Itachi with bullets, when he felt Naruto's hand clamp down on his arm and spin him around. Sasuke's eyes met Naruto's now blue eyes and Sasuke tried to shove him off of him. Naruto clamped his hand on Sasuke's arm even harder and pulled him behind a deteriorating wall. Sasuke began to scream at him, demanding that he let go and to let him go kill every single one of those _shitheads_. He thrashed around, trying to hit Naruto hard enough to force him to let go, but instead ended up with a slap across his face.

"Uchiha Sasuke, shut your _fucking _mouth or I swear to what ever sentient being out there, I will do it _myself_!!" Sasuke, still in shock from getting a _slap_, could only glare at the blond. Naruto stood, still with a death grip on Sasuke's arm and turned to look at Sasuke again.

"We are going to make a run for it. Itachi would have wanted us to have escaped, especially your pansy ass. So rearrange your face into a smile or it will fucking freeze."

Sasuke could only stare at Naruto, who had never reacted like this before. Sasuke stood up next to Naruto, still shell-shocked from loosing his brother and from getting a slap in the face, and stared at his teammate dumbly.

"You ready?"

Sasuke nodded and the two boys sprinted out of their cover, hoping that Kabuto's "associates" hadn't noticed them. A spray of bullets greeted them. They dropped onto the ground, the bullets missing them by inches. Kabuto yelled something at them and the firing ceased momentarily. Sasuke and Naruto picked themselves up and began their mad dash back up the street they had just come down, but as fate would have it, Sasuke took a glance backward.

And the slap that Naruto had just administered on him wore off.

His rage bubbled up as he saw his brother's body getting roughly dragged into a building. He quickly pivoted and grasped his rifle and took aim with crimson eyes. Bullets ripped into the men that had just glanced up and Sasuke smirked as we made his way back up the street. His rage flared into cold-blooded hatred and he felt the thrill of the kill flooding into him. He saw movement from he corner of his eye and he turned to obliterate it when he felt a burning sensation explode into his fevered mind. Stumbling to his knees , he suddenly felt incredibly weak. He looked down and saw that he had been hit with a strange looking bullet. He heard Naruto yell something from somewhere back up the street and the world slowed down. Sasuke's senses slowed until it seemed like the men up the street were moving in slow motion and their voices were sluggish. He knew he had to stand up, he knew he had to avenge his brother, but he couldn't't, his body wasn't listening to his brain. Then he knew he was screwed.

Suddenly there was a presence beside him and he turned to identify it. A small human figure was crouched beside him with a rocket launcher propped on its shoulder. The person placed a hand on his back to keep him upright and tilted the weapon at Kabuto's position. He heard a feminine voice with a sharp softness filter through the haze.

"Boom, _bitch_."

A bang emitted from the stranger's rocket launcher and an explosion ripped into the street. Screams could be heard from the men further up the street while the smell of charred flesh assaulted his nostrils. Sasuke tried to focus on the mystery person's features, but the world started to slow down even more, almost grinding to a near stand-still. He blinked in reply as the person yelled something at him and started pulling him to his feet.

_What a funny voice… _

And everything went black.

**--------------------------------------------------**

"_Nii-san!! I'm scared, where are you?!!" Sasuke yelled out into the darkness. He was lost and incredibly frightened by the sudden change of the surroundings. He stumbled down the streets, tears streaming down his small face._

"_ITACHII!!" he screamed out again, when he tripped over his feet and slammed into the ground, hitting his chin on the pavement. He was about to pull himself up when he looked down his nose to see a flower in front of his face. His curiosity peeked and he scooped up the small pink blossom in his hands. What was something so pretty doing here? A small gust of wind brushed past him and lifted the flower off of his hands, sending it down the crimson streets. _

"_Follow and you shall find."_

_His head whipped up, trying to locate the source of the voice. He called out again, but received no answer. He focused on the little blossom floating on the wind and ran after it. Perhaps the voice was right…_

_--------------------------------------------------_

"He'll be fine now, he just needs rest."

"You sure?"

"Positive, I just need to go get cleaned up, stay with him, if anything happens, don't be afraid to shout, ok?"

"Got it."

Sasuke tried to focus on the voices that were filtering through his head, they were giving him one hell of a headache. He definitely knew the annoying one was a particular blond he knew.

_I'm going to destroy him_

He ordered his eyes to open, but they seemed quite resilient to the threats he was throwing at them. All he wanted to do was open is eyes and tell Naruto, who was currently singing off-tune, to shut up and let him sleep in silence. But yet again, his eyes refused to open. He suddenly sensed silence as the dobe stopped singing.

_Finally_

"You know teme-" _spoke too soon _"-we're lucky she found us when she did, otherwise we would have been in some deep shit. Not to mention, she's hot too. Wake your lazy ass up already and you'll see what I mean. I mean, she is just- OW, WHAT THE HELL!!"

Sasuke glared at Naruto as his fist left the top of Naruto's head.

"Shut The Fuck Up."

Naruto's eyes narrowed at Sasuke and he stuck his tongue out.

"What, was I disrupting your beauty sleep, Sasuke-hime?"

Sasuke was about to unleash a verbal slaughter-fest on Naruto when he was interrupted by a feminine giggle. He whipped his head around, not only to almost lose consciousness again, but to gaze into emerald eyes.

_Holy crap, Naruto was right_

Leaning against a cracked doorframe was a petite girl with short pink hair and the most stunning eyes Sasuke had ever seen. She was wearing a dirty white tank top that was stretched over her small form, as well as an unusual uniform that hung off of her. He opened his mouth to speak, but found that all of a sudden, his tongue was too big for his mouth.

So instead, he ended up gaping like an idiot.

He quickly regained his composure and formed his eyes into a glare. She let another giggle slip through her lips as she pushed herself off the doorframe.

"You know, you're going to get wrinkles if you keep doing that." she snickered at him. She knelt down beside him and gazed into his face. He felt a blush creeping onto his face and immediately tried to stifle it.

"You look a lot better than when we first brought you in. You've regained a little bit of you colour I can see."

"We…?"

"Your friend, Naruto, and myself. That was one brutal poison that was in your system, but you're lucky I arrived when I did, you'll be fine now, just rest. By the way, the name's Sakura"

She held out her hand and he gazed at it, wondering what he wanted her to do with it.

She giggled again. "Oh right sorry, I guess no one really shakes hands anymore. I assume you are Sasuke?"

He gave her a curt nod and she smiled. She stood and turned to Naruto. He noticed that a slight blush crept across her face as she addressed him. He glared at Naruto, which kind of shocked him to a certain extent. He never got jealous, especially when it involved a girl. He also noticed the slight curve of her slender waist that wound its way down to her slightly rounded hips that were hidden by the baggy pants she was currently wearing.

_Currently…_

Sasuke almost slapped himself. That was the last thing he needed, was his normally dormant hormones acting up in this kind of situation. He switched his thoughts onto something less exciting to try and eliminate the current fire that was reeking havoc.

_Guns, Oni, Naruto…Itachi_

Remembering his fallen brother, he was suddenly hit with a fresh rush of adrenaline and he leaped out of the make-shift bed to get his weapons. He still wanted to massacre Kabuto and his men for what they did to Itachi. Suddenly the world warped inwards and he slumped against the wall, trying to regain to balance and focus. He felt a small arm wind its way around his waist as he tipped towards the floor.

"Take it slow Sasuke, slow down, take a deep breath in. You still need to recover from that nasty stuff that was running through your system."

He wanted to scream at the Sakura to let him go, let him run after his brother's killers, but he felt all the fight flood out of him at the strange girls soft touch. He collapsed to the floor, finding himself shaking from exertion. Sakura was at his side, checking his pulse and gazing into his eyes, checking for any abnormalities. He looked at his hands, which were trembling uncontrollably.

_How fucking pathetic_

"Take it easy, you're not going to help Itachi by passing out."

Sasuke turned his head towards Sakura, a full-blown snarl making its way from his lips.

"and what the _fuck_ would you know about _Itachi_?"

Her calm demeanour vanished and her face twisted into one of anger. Her cheeks flushed red and her wide eyes narrowed into slits.

"Sorry, what was that?" she said in a acidic tone.

Sasuke smirked at the look the small girl was giving him.

_Amateur_

"Are you deaf as well as stupid? What the hell would you know about my brother?" he sneered out at the fuming girl in front of him.

Then he kind of regretted it.

Her hand moved faster then he could track and it slammed into the wall beside his head, leaving a large crack and dent. Her face was suddenly only inches from his own and she stared daggers into his eyes. He noticed her eyes had changed from their emerald colour into a much darker shade that seemed quite a bit more menacing than before. Her voice had also lost its softness, turning into one with a sharp edge to it.

"How dare you! How dare you disrespect me after everything I did for you. I may not be your idea of a savoir, but if you continue on in that tone, _get out_, I don't deserve it or need it. As for your brother, Naruto informed me about his situation. He's not dead, he was hit by the same toxin you were. I assure you, he is alive and breathing, although probably not in as good condition. And next time you speak to me in that bitchy little tone of yours, you'll wish you never woke up. Understood?"

Sasuke's eyes widened at her sudden change of character. He nodded slowly and her face flitted back into the peaceful one it was when he first saw her. Her lips parted into a smile and she patted him on the head.

"You'll find it's a lot better to agree with me Sasuke, remember that." she said in a cheery tone that had a certain edge to it. She stood and walked down the small hallway, disappearing into another room. He tilted his head to see Naruto stroll out of the make-shift bedroom with an innocent smile on his face.

"One word my friend, and only one. Whipp-ed."

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**A/N-**Hello! long time no update, sorry about that…. Hope the this chapter is up to par, I'm trying to get the plot rolling so that it's not one of those ridiculously long sagas of 60+ chapters, (kudos to those of you who can write those). I'll hopefully have the next chapter up very soon, but no promises. If there were any mistakes and whatnot, I'm using my dad's tiny little laptop that I have never used before. I think most of your questions will be answered in the next chapter, so stay tuned. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and thanks for all the people that reviewed last time, it really helps!

And for those of you who haven't yet, you know you want to…


	6. Zeta

"What the hell is this?"

Sakura glared at Sasuke

"Its food, you idiot."

Sasuke glared at Sakura

The two exchanged angry gazes across the make-shift table. The hatred funnelled into each glare had almost a physical presence, Sakura's emerald eyes blazed with fury and Sasuke's had a hint of red seeping into them. They both narrowed their eyes simultaneously and Sakura's upper lip twitched, as well as her hands. Sasuke on the other hand, had no emotion marring his face, just his two eyes that were narrowed into a glare.

And poor Naruto was stuck in the middle of it.

He was currently dealing with quite the conundrum: side with the hottie that saved them, or his idiotic best friend. He mused over the two options for a few moments. He wisely concluded that it would be better to keep his mouth shut.

Well, only about picking sides.

"If you guys are done making bedroom eyes at each other, I think we need to-"

He was immediately interrupted by a spluttering Sakura and a mildly blushing Sasuke.

"Naruto!"

"Shut-up Dobe"

Sasuke quickly dropped his eye-contact with Sakura's to conceal his mildly glowing cheeks and looked at the food she had proudly served to them earlier. He felt a shudder run up his spine: it reminded him of the time Naruto had accidently zapped a squirrel with a plasma pistol.

_This is not food…_

As if she had read his mind, Sakura's eyes hardened for a moment and she slowly bit out a few words. "You know, you should be more grateful Sasuke, this food has everything the body needs: vitamins, carbohydrates, minerals-"

"Everything except flavour", Sasuke retorted, an arrogant smirk snaking its way across his face.

At that, Sakura's fist slammed down on the rickety table and a moderate sized dent found its way onto the surface. Her eyes blazed with a new found fury and her lips formed into a twisted smile

"God, Naruto was right about you, your name should be Sasuke-hime. And tell me, does it hurt?"

Sasuke decided to ignore the jab at his masculinity and instead raised an eyebrow at the odd question.

"Does what hurt?"

"Whatever's stuck up your ass."

Sasuke eyes widened for a moment before they re-formed into a glare. He heard Naruto's obnoxious snicker from the side of the table. He focused his anger on Naruto, who had been neutral up until this point.

"Find something funny, idiot?"

Naruto plastered a cheesy smile on his face and sighed. "Ah, young love, how sweet it is when it begins to blossom." He took one look at both their flabbergasted faces and decided that it was his cue to excuse himself before:

He get slaughtered by a pissy Sasuke and an infuriated Sakura

He got a hernia from trying to contain his laughter

He quickly stood up and darted out of the room before the two sitting at the table could stop him. After he made his exit, the two remaining turned and yet again focused their glares at each other. Sakura huffed and returned to eating her food and murmured to Sasuke

"If you don't want it, fine, but it is all I have to offer you. This place was never meant to sustain people for very long, just emergency rations. I'm sorry it isn't what you're used to."

At that she took one final gulp of her food and stood. Sasuke eyed her suspiciously, expecting another acid remark to surface, but none came. She made her way towards him and scooped up his plate without sparing him a glance. She pivoted on her foot and made a bee-line towards the make-shift sink and dumped the empty dishes in it with a sigh. She planted her two hands on the side of the tin basin and let another sigh pass through her lips.

"I'm sorry if none of _this_ is what you're used to. I've heard that Elysium is a beautiful place, quite unlike this small _thing_ we are currently confined to. This shelter was meant to be an emergency hideout if Bunker 7 was ever breached." She took a deep breath in and let another sigh out. "Well, guess what? It was, and now I'm stuck here until I can figure out where to go from here."

Sasuke pondered of this sudden change in character and mood and realized that there must be an underlying reason for it. He could hear the little voice in the back of his head warning him that he was treading on unsteady ground. But it wasn't like he ever listened to that voice anyways.

"Speaking of Bunker 7, what exactly happened there?"

Expecting her to raise her voice in anger or to shoot him another glare, he was surprised at the sad look she gave him. Her sea green eyes held a kind of cheerless softness to them that he had never seen before, a kind of mix between sadness and pity. She let a small, sad smile slip onto her face and her pitying look annoyed Sasuke to no end. He was about to glare at her and tell her to stop looking at him like that (but with a few more choice words), when she finally spoke.

"I think we should go get Naruto before I tell you anything." She slowly pivoted on her foot and quietly walked out of the small room to go find him, leaving Sasuke with a bewildered look on his face. He quickly sobered up and let his normal, stoic mask slip back on.

_What the hell was that?_

In the incredibly short amount of time he had known Sakura, he had never seen her back down from a fight. His Uchiha senses were tingling, there was obvious something she was not telling Naruto and himself. It seemed that she was going to tell them anyways, so why worry about it. His mind quickly slipped into more important matters, such as locating Itachi and _obliterating_ Kabuto and co. His mind flitted back to the day where Itachi was taken and the smug look that was plastered on Kabuto's face. Sasuke's eyes involuntarily narrowed at the memory.

_That bitch is going to die_

Thousands of possibilities filtered through his mind at that moment, trying to come up with reasons why Itachi was taken and for what purpose, but more importantly, how Sasuke was going to get him back. He closed his eyes and let out a small sigh and began to formulate a plan. He knew that it was going to be incredibly difficult to track Kabuto's group, since they seemed to be incredible organized and probably wouldn't leave much in the way of a trail. The only way to at least have a chance would be to start tracking them at the last place he saw Itachi, on the outskirts of Bunker 7. Sasuke pondered for a moment where exactly he was, since he hadn't been of the mindset to ask Sakura. From what it looked like, and from what Sakura had said, it seemed to be an emergency station outside of Bunker 7. The cramped rooms and the disrepair it was in definitely screamed that it hadn't been lived in for quite a while.

He suddenly heard Sakura and Naruto making their way back to the "kitchen" and Sasuke decided on a course of action. He would have to leave first thing in the morning, while the other two were asleep, to ensure he could travel fast. The other two would slow him up and waist valuable time. Plus the Oni would probably miss one human making their way through the outskirts. A smirk flitted across his face.

_Damn I'm good_

He glanced up as Naruto and Sakura squeezed their way through the door frame, which was more like an opening in the wall, and sat down at the table. Sakura took a deep breath in and looked at him.

"I don't really know how to explain what happened or where to begin because the story is kind of complicated", she sighed out.

Naruto put on one of his goofy grins and looked at Sakura. "How about the beginning, I think that sounds fair."

Sakura smiled. "Probably would make the most sense. I must warn you, it is a long story."

Sasuke sighed. "It not exactly like we have anything else to do…"

Sakura's smile disappeared and her eyes darkened. "Do you want to hear it or not, Sasuke-hime?"

Sasuke was about to retort to the umpteenth stab at his masculinity, but Naruto interjected before another battle could begin.

"Chill the fuck out teme, let's hear what Sakura-chan has to tell us. One more word out of you and I'll shank you. Got it?"

Sasuke's eyes widened at Naruto's words and he decided to listen to the little voice inside his head and shut his mouth.

Sakura smirked at Sasuke and turned her attention to Naruto. "Thank you Naruto, shall I begin?"

Both boys nodded.

"Our troubles all began roughly 3 weeks ago. A young man, probably in his mid-twenties, arrived at Bunker 7 seeking refuge from the war. Being a civilian bunker, and a shelter for the displaced, what could we do but let him in? Myself, being the chief medical examiner for 7, I was one of the first people to meet him, since we always screen new residents for diseases and infection. At first he seemed quite charming, but as the examination continued, there seemed to be something amiss about him. Not only did it seem that he was a recombinant, he also expressed an extreme fascination with meeting more recombinants. Knowing the stigma attached to being a one, I felt the need to try and conceal the identities of the fellow recombinants, but he insisted. I told him that he would have to find them himself, and I would never tell him. Expecting an angry outburst, I was surprised to find that he simply smiled and told me that he liked my values, but found them extremely idealistic for the time in which we are living in." At that, Sakura let out a shudder and shivered.

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other and Naruto hesitantly inquired "Did he say anything else to you Sakura-chan?"

She swallowed and nodded. "He also said that he would 'save me for last'. At the time, I didn't know what it meant, but I soon found out. We started getting reports of him asking everyone about their lives and trying to get their background information. Of course, for many people, that arouses many painful memories of lost loved ones, so we finally had to bring him in for questioning. As the questioning went on, it became evident that he was up to something sinister. It was at this time we received reports of strange things occurring just outside the bunker, and that's when I decided to send for help from Elysium."

It dawned on Sasuke that Sakura must have been the girl from the video feed. Pieces started clicking into place and he continued listening.

"While I was in the middle of transmitting, the first wave of attacks hit and the room I was in collapsed. A form entered the room and began to shoot at the people trapped in the rubble. I was so shocked by the action, I tried to stop it. I managed to land a hit and it was momentarily crippled. I knew I had to transmit the message, so I made my way back to the transmitter, but another explosion ripped through the room and it was destroyed. I knew that there was nothing I could do but grab as many survivors as I could and make my way to the emergency shelter. The only person that I could find happened to be Ino, my best friend, but she was critically injured." Tears began to glitter in the corners of Sakura's eyes and she closed her eyes to hold in a shudder.

Naruto began to feel discomfort at the sight of Sakura's tears and shifted in his seat "Sakura-chan, you don't-"

Sakura quickly interrupted him with a sad but controlled voice. "No, if I stop now, I won't be able to continue." She quickly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. "I dragged Ino as far as I could and we had just made it to the shelter when we were attacked. I tried to hold them off, but I had only one rifle against five plus armed soldiers. Ino told me to get inside and she would fend them off. I yelled at her to not be that stupid but she had other plans. You see, she is…was a recombinant, and her gift was telepathy. Before I could disengage her control over me, she had pushed me inside and the door had slammed shut. The last thing she said was that 'my forehead made an easy target since it was so big.' I then heard a scream and I blacked out. When I woke the next day, everyone was gone. And I mean everyone, even the bodies."

Sakura then shuddered and more tears slipped out of her eyes. "You would have thought we would have gotten a break after all the bloodshed and pain this war had caused, but no, life can never be that easy. I guess he was right, I am a foolish idealist." Sakura covered her face and let silent tears slid off her face onto the table. Another silent sob wracked her small form and Sasuke's discomfort began to increase at the sight of her tears and her unspoken anguish. He felt at a loss of what to say or do. It was Naruto who made the first move.

"Sakura- chan, I know it isn't my place to say this, but it seems that Ino loved you very much, and she wouldn't want you to feel sad about her sacrifice. She would have wanted you to live, knowing that she had made a difference. Ok, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura lifted her face from her hands and wiped a few stray tears from her eyes. She let a sad smile flit across her face. "You're right Naruto, but it is so hard, knowing that you could have done something more-"

Naruto quickly interrupted her and smiled at her. "You know what this situation calls for?"

Sakura shook her head and Sasuke groaned internally, knowing it had to be something incredibly stupid.

"GROUP HUG!!!"

Sasuke's eyes widened at his words and knew he had to escape.

_Ah shit_

Unfortunately for him, Naruto was two steps ahead. Naruto grabbed the back of his jacket and spun him around so that he was in front of Sakura and he was suddenly giving her a hug. He felt a blush creep across his face as she buried her face into his chest and held him tight.

_IamgoingtokillNarutoIamgoingtokillNarutoIamgoingtoki-_

He shot a glance at the blond, who was currently backing away from the 'group hug' session with a huge smile on his face. Sasuke glared even more when Naruto winked at him and mouthed to him' Thank me later'. He began to formulate different ways in which the blond could have a nasty 'accident', when he was interrupted by the pink-hair girl he was currently holding.

She began to mumble into his chest, sending vibrations through his torso and making more blood rush to his cheeks.

"I knew there was a kinder side to you, Sasuke-hime. Thank-you".

His face dropped at his new nickname but decided to leave it without a retort.

"Just don't get too used to, ok?"

He felt a smile form on her face and she lifted her head to face him.

"Same goes for you."

Sasuke smirked.

**A/N**: Hello, sorry for not updating for awhile, been crazy busy and to cap it all off, my computer crashed  
Oops  
Hope you guys enjoyed, and as always:

Review please!

Hint: If you have an idea, I might just use it


	7. Eta

_Now now, this won't hurt a bit…_

Sasuke's eyes ripped open and he shot out of the bed, adrenaline coursing through his body. His wild eyes circled the room, looking for the owner of the voice. He gripped his knife in nervous, shaking hands and tried to calm his shaky breathing while his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. He scanned the room slowly, looking for any abnormalities. The room was strangely silent and he felt the creeping feeling of dread creeping up his spine.

SNORT

Sasuke's eyes bugged out of his head and he snapped around to the source of the noise.

His eyes fell upon the sleeping form of an out-stretched, snoring Naruto. His expression fell from his face.

_Seriously…?_

He almost hit himself when he realized that the only 'intruders' in the room were a snoring Naruto and a sleeping Sakura. He let out a quiet, nervous laugh at his stupidity.

_Only a dream_

A cold shiver ran up his spine as the adrenaline that was coursing through his veins began to seep out of him. Sheathing his knife with twitching hands, he sat down on the bed that he had been sharing with the others. He took in another deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. He tried to recall what had gotten him so panicked but the memory of the dream began to subside until it became a muddled blur. He glanced up at his packed bags, then to his sleeping teammates and sighed.

Last night, they had decided to return to Elysium with the news of Itachi's capture and the destruction of Bunker 7, only that wasn't what Sasuke had decided to do. He knew if he returned, he may never find Itachi, and that wasn't a risk he was willing to take. He had kept quiet about his decision and agreed to return, knowing that he could easily evade Naruto, if he decided to come after him. Sasuke had no doubt Naruto would be pissed beyond all reason and would likely come after him and drag Sakura along with him. He would have to make sure he couldn't be followed and delay any possibilities of tracking.

He stood and got ready to leave. As he was about to walk out of the room, he took one final look at his sleeping friends and guilt began to seep into his mind. Naruto had his mouth wide open, snoring loud enough to alert any Oni in the surrounding area, and his blanket had been thrown off in a fit of restless sleep. His ridiculous sleeping hat that he insisted on bringing each mission was covering his face and was acting as an incredibly bad muffler to his snoring.

Then there was Sakura.

She looked beautiful. Her face was unmarred by stress and held a sort of serene peacefulness that was rarely seen during the waking hours. Her pale skin softly reflected the hint of light in the room and her cerise hair was splayed above her head, not unlike a halo. Despite his outward show of coldness towards the petite girl, he had grown a sort of attachment to her in the short time he had known her, and if he could dare label it, _fondness. _He knew he hadn't been the perfect gentleman, but she still smiled (most of the time) in his presence and seemed to extend the branch of friendship and peace out of pure, innocent motives, and not shadowy intentions.

He knew that if he didn't leave now, he probably never would.

He shouldered his bag onto his back and walked out without looking back.

Sick as he knew it was, the Outskirts held a sort of twisted beauty when the moon shone down on them. The cracked and splintered streets reflected the moonbeams with a soft glow that made the sinister landscape appear peaceful during the calm of night. Sasuke knew he only had a short amount of time before the sun would rise and the Oni would be on alert, so he quickened his pace towards the last known location of his brother. Knowing that he was walking through dangerous territory he readied his Sharingan to activate at any given moment.

Ask anyone, and they would have said he was insane to continue with this endeavour. But then again, Sasuke never was just anyone. He knew he was one of the exceptions to this world; he was a recombinant after-all. It wasn't just his cold-calculating manner that made him unusual amongst humans; it was also his highly abnormal 'talents' that made him stick out from the rest of humanity. There were few others that were recombinants like him; he knew that from experience, and that to have any exceptional gift in these times spelt trouble for the individual. From jealous complainers to superstitious conspirators, they all distrusted his kind, believing they were some-how a by-product of the Oni, or those recombinants fraternized with the enemy. He found it a little more than ironic that most of the recombinants he knew were high-ranking officers and captains in Elysium's military structure.

They were excellent actors after all.

His thoughts drew to a close as he came upon the street in which his brother was taken. He flicked his eyes from one corner to another, trying to sense if there were any remnants from Kabuto's "taskforce". Sasuke stretched his senses out as far as he could and encountered no presence of human activity. Or Oni, much to his relief. He quickly padded down the pavement, stopping in front of the scorched (courtesy of Sakura) building he last saw his brother getting dragged into.

_Better to start here than anywhere else…_

He quietly stole into the structure and was greeted by a wall of darkness. He glanced back to the entranceway, seeing the moonlight shine weakly through the hole. He let out a soft sigh; it was too chancy to turn on the compact flashlight on the end of his rifle, so he decided to use the next best thing. His eyes. Crimson seeped over his onyx eyes and the dark room began to sharpen in clarity and he could make out the details of the down-trodden alcove. The crimson-eyed boy began to take slow, sure steps farther into the building, feeling a slight inkling of doubt and worry creep up his spine as he progressed. Millions of thought flitted through his head, thoughts of _who, what, when, where, how._ He exhaled deeply to calm his nerves and arrived at the beginning of a long hallway. He stared down the length of it and felt a shiver of apprehension run through his body.

When he was younger, one of the tech experts back at Elysium had found a file dating back to before the war, apparently it had been called a 'movie', or something close to that, and he had decided to show a few of his friends, Itachi being among them. Itachi, not one to leave Sasuke to his own devices, had brought him along to enjoy the show. Unfortunately for Sasuke, the 'movie' was a bit more vivid than his imagination could ever dream up. In one scene, it showed a female making her way through a building, only to come across a group of mal-formed, disfigured creatures in white outfits waiting at the end of a hallway. The way the creatures had moved, the snapping of ligaments and creaking limbs, had scared Sasuke so much, he began to cry and forced Itachi to stay awake at night, out of fear that the freaky female creatures would get him while he slept.

This hallway seemed to be right out of the 'movie'.

_What incredibly shitty luck_

Sasuke gathered his nerves and pressed onward, secretly praying that nothing sudden would happen, or he might just die from fright. Of course he would never _admit_ that. He approached a room and gingerly stepped through the threshold, eyes taking in all his surroundings at once. There was nothing there. He didn't know whether to be upset or relieved. He pivoted on his foot and made his way to the next alcove further down the hallway of doom. He stepped into it, and again, there was nothing. He scouted around the room and found a small pool of blood. His eyes widened.

_Itachi…_

He bent down and examined it with analytical eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. What he thought was a pool, was actually just a smear, meaning that it was probably just transfer from a small wound. He knew that Itachi was long gone from here, but at least this meant there was a small chance he was still alive. Plus the fact that Itachi's captors would probably want to keep him alive as long as possible, whatever their motive was. He stood from his crouching position and turned to exit the room.

Unfortunately, he didn't see the box behind him.

His foot hit the box with a solid '_thud'_, sending a surprised, shocked, freaked-the-fuck-out Sasuke hurtling to the ground, connecting with a small thump. He could hear his heart beating in his ears as the adrenaline started to rush through his veins, images of the freaky things flashing across his mind. He drew his ever present blade from its pouch, turning to face the unknown enemy. His ego shrivelled, sizing up the cube proportions of his 'deadly' enemy. It was at that moment the raven-haired boy was glad he was doing this alone, imagining Naruto's loud, obnoxious laughter and Sakura's soft giggles. He felt a slight tinge of guilt, but quickly suppressed it as he stood to break the accursed box into a million pieces. He was in the process of lifting his booted foot to curb stomp the wooden cube, when he noticed something he had missed before. He lowered his hovering foot and crouched down yet again to examine the floor. A small, crudely drawn music note had been scrawled over the concrete in what it seemed like, blood. When the box had jumped in front of his foot (how else would he have tripped over it), he must have moved the box enough to show the hidden symbol. He let a small smile cross his face.

_Trust Itachi to leave me a cryptic clue…_

His whole life, Itachi had rarely ever given a straight answer to Sasuke, always answering obscurely, forcing Sasuke to work out the puzzle until he had his answer. Even in his hazy half-consciousness, Itachi was still an evasive ass. He examined the symbol closer, noting that there was also a small 'N' beside it with an arrow pointing towards one of the walls.

Sasuke sighed.

_Here we go…_

**A/N:** hope you guys are still enjoying the story, and sorry for the long update time! I could give you a plethora of reasons, but I don't think that is really necessary. I'll try to get the next chapter up in the next couple of weeks, nut no guarantees, more like an estimated time-line.

Thank you so much for all you guys that have reviewed, it is greatly appreciated!!

And for those who haven't, in the wise (not) words of Gwen Stefani:

What cha' waiting for?!


	8. Theta

_They say if you love something let it go, and if it doesn't some back to you, hunt it down and kill it._

----

**Genesis  
08.**

----

More concrete rained down on him. He cursed his luck, how in the name of all things holy had they spotted him? He let more colourful language pour out of his lips as a bullet skimmed past and bit into his shoulder. _Fucking hell, we don't they just leave me alone!!!_ Sasuke's anger began to rise once again as the onslaught of bullets began again.

He had been minding his own business, strolling through the destruction of what seemed like 'Main street', internally commenting on the architectural genius that surrounded him (ok, maybe not quite like that, but the buildings weren't bad to look at), when he had heard an Oni roar an order to attack. Then he kind of knew he was a wee bit doomed. So now here he was, yet again crouched against rapidly disappearing cover, watching parts of it fly over his head, wishing he had been a little bit more attentive to his surroundings. The gears in his mind began turning, trying to figure out a way out of this, hoping that the enemy forces would screw up somehow. More bullets ripped into his cover, spraying him with dust. Or perhaps they'd run out of bullets first.

_Think, think, think, think..._

Suddenly, he heard an Oni cry out, followed by the confused grunts of its teammates. Then another wail. _What was going on? _He risked a peek from behind his shelter, tilting his head out slightly; only to catch sight of two Oni slumped over a concrete divider, the rest of them looking around in confusion and panic. Someone else was attacking them. His eyes widened as a short burst of gun fire cracked through the air, silencing an Oni in mid grunt. It looked at its chest, a look of surprise splattered across its face before it crumpled to the ground, dead before impact.

"_Psst!"_

Sasuke's heart nearly leapt out of his chest and he whirled around, pistol drawn, to come face to face with a blushing, dark-haired girl. She smiled softly at him

"Hello…my team and I are here to save you..." she spoke softly, barely audible above the gunfire. She kept the soft smile on her face, cheeks flaming. She was quite short, from what Sasuke could tell, and her long black haired was pulled back into a hair tie. What unsettled him the most was her eyes. They weren't like Naruto's bright blue eyes, nor were they like Sakura's clear emerald ones. They were white. Sasuke blinked once at the girl.

"Hn. I don't need to be saved."

Normally, Sasuke would have accepted help under these circumstances, but looking at the girl in front of him, it would be safe to assume it would be more trouble than it was worth to let himself be "saved". But at his refusal, Sasuke had never seen such a transformation come over someone in such a short span of time. The girl's blushing cheeks drained of all their colour, her strangely coloured eyes narrowed and he could have sworn he saw veins beginning to protrude around her eyes. Her shy smile vanished, only to be replaced by a tight-lipped scowl.

"Excuse me?" she squeaked. The boy could hardly contain a snicker; her attempt at intimidation only solidified his decision that he did not need to be "saved". Rather than intimidate him, she actually reminded him of the younger girls at Elysium, trying hard to be tough, but only coming off as trying too hard.

The girl in front of him arched her eyebrows, a small smile forming on her already upturned lips. Sasuke didn't like that look. Suddenly veins began to form around the timid looking girl's eyes and her oddly white pupils flashed. Ok, this was getting creepy and weird.

"There are more forces on the way. Please come with us." She quietly said. Sasuke could have sworn that she was looking _through_ him. He gulped. _This is getting really weird…_

"Got him, I'm making my way back" She whispered into the mike around her neck.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Hey, there is no 'getting him'-"

"I think it is a little late for that" the girl quietly murmured as she started to turn her body. She grasped his hand tightly and looked back to him.

"Here we go"

Before the flustered boy could reply she tugged on his hand and sent him lurching forward. She quickly gained momentum, ducking from cover to cover and dodging bullets as they flew past them, all the while dragging a protesting Sasuke with her. Sasuke was starting to get annoyed. This would only impede his search for Itachi, since they were going in the wrong direction and the little girl had no intention of letting him go. The hand she was clenching so hard to was also, much to his discomfort, attached to his injured shoulder. He could feel the tearing of skin as she jerked on his arm to run to their next piece of cover. As their backs hit an abandoned car and more bullets ripped into their cover, Sasuke decided enough was enough.

"Ok, enough, let me the _fuck_ go." He snarled out to the girl next to him.

Her eyes widened perceptibly and colour rushed to her cheeks. Sasuke groaned, he could feel the spluttering and crying coming on. Girls were such wimps. He knew that every time he rose his voice around them, they would whine and snivel-

_Sakura being the exception_.

Sasuke sighed. But he was not expecting what happened next.

"Hey you **fucker**, don't you dare talk to Hinata like that!!" and with that, a rock struck the raven-haired boy square in the face. He heard the girl, presumably Hinata, gasp and Sasuke quickly brought his hand up to the bump that was rapidly developing on his forehead.

_Fuck that Hurt!!_

His eyes ripped open with crimson irises and he scanned the area for the culprit. His eyes formed a glare as his eyes fell upon the offender. A ways off was a brown-haired boy with messy, spiky hair, currently waving at the crimson-eyed boy with one finger.

"That's right you dip-shit, do it again and I'll kill you!"

Sasuke was about to reply, when he felt a hand cover his mouth. Fury blazed in his eyes at the girl's behaviour.

"Please…just come with us. When he gets riled up, it's really hard to calm him down…" she said, eyes falling to her feet.

"I promise that once we are out of this mess, you can go your own way"

Sasuke felt his fury lessen slightly at the girl's words and he made a curt nod with his head. Hinata removed her hand from his mouth as Sasuke replied.

"Fine by me."

Hinata turned her face towards him and let a small smile cross her features.

"Good. There's an outpost further along. That's where we're headed. Kiba and Shino, my teammates, will keep the Oni busy."

Sasuke replied with another sharp nod. Under any other circumstance, he would have disagreed and stayed to fight, but his shoulder was bleeding profusely, and he knew that if he left it unattended any longer, he would probably pass out from blood loss. He risked a look at said limb and breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't as bad as he thought it was; the bullet had only grazed his arm, but had still left a deep gash running from the front of his shoulder to the back.

"Are you ready…?"

The raven-haired boy nodded, and with that, the white-eyed girl next to him grabbed his hand again and in an instant, they were off, running down the street.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"SO, dipshit, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Sasuke didn't lift his gaze to make eye-contact with his aggressor; he was too busy trying not to squirm from the stinging sensation pulsating through his arm and torso.

"Kiba, can you berate him afterwards? I'm trying to clean his wound."

The brown-haired boy huffed.

"I don't see why you're defending the loser Hinata; he was the one that insulted you!"

The girl sitting next to Sasuke let out a small sigh and waved her hand at the fuming boy.

"Go help Shino with something, please…"

The boy let out an angry growl. "And leave you alone with this dude, no way! We don't know what he would do to a girl like you Hinata, he could-"

Hinata began to flush a dark shade of crimson at the boy's insinuations and tried to splutter out a reply, anything to shut him up.

"Kiba! - I- He- Just be quiet!!"

The boy only continued to rant at the rapidly darkening girl. "I'm only looking out for you, Hinata-chan! I don't want you getting hurt."

At that, Hinata's eyes softened and she glanced up at the indignant boy.

"I know Kiba…" she said softly, smiling at the boy and effectively calming the raving boy down.

"Then you know why-"

Sasuke groaned internally and tried to tune out the fluff that was threatening to smother him. It was obvious something was going on between these two, whether it was sibling love or some other type of infatuation, Sasuke really did not care. All he really wanted was to be somewhere else right now. He could practically see the hearts, rainbows and butterflies swirling around the room. Uchihas did not do hearts rainbows and butterflies.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I have to get going."

The two others in the room turned to face him as the Uchiha stood, gathering pieces of gauze from the first-aid kit and transferring them to his bag. The girl nodded slowly, while the spiky-haired boy, presumably Kiba, let out a yowl of protest.

"After all we did for you, you're just going to leave?!"

Sasuke stared blankly at the irritated boy.

"Yes."

Sasuke wondered if it was healthy that someone's face could turn that red.

"God, at least show some gratitude, you ungrateful bastard!"

Sasuke sighed. Here he was thinking that no one could be any more annoying than Naruto.

"I have more important matters to attend to. Thank you for everything."

At that, Sasuke made a shallow bow towards a blushing Hinata and watched out of the corner of his eye the flabbergasted face of an enraged Kiba.

_This is too easy_

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"WHERE THE HELL IS TEME?!!"

"I'm sure he's just stepped out for a moment; he probably needs some alone time after losing his brother."

"Ya, stepped out with all his supplies!"

"Oh…"

"I knew it, the moment he agreed to go back to Elysium, I knew he was lying, I KNEW IT!!!"

"There's no way we could have known, Baka!"

"No, whenever he lies, his lips twitch!"

"Seriously…?"

"Seriously!!"

"…So what are we going to do about it?"

"We are going to hunt his ass down and beat the shit out of him for abandoning us!"

"This, I like."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sasuke let out a small sneeze

"Bless you, Sasuke-san"

"Thanks…"

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**A/N:** I locked myself in my room so I could get this done, but it is still crap… Sorry for the long wait, freaking exams galore in the last couple of weeks. Enjoy!

Comments and criticism are all welcome and thanks to all the lovely reviewers that have reviewed so far. Cookies to all of you!!!


	9. Iota

It was no secret to those who knew her well that Sakura loved her rocket launcher. She loved every aspect of it, from its incandescent colour, to the soothing sound the missile would make as it unleashed a fiery hell on her opponent. Its handle was smooth from use, making it just that much easier to slip into her palm. There was something about the way it fit on her shoulder as she pulled the trigger that made her smile with delight. The ensuing 'BOOM' wasn't that bad either.

She found that each of her opponents gave a particular noise as they were ripped apart by the flames; from squeals to grunts to 'splat'. (The latter was her favourite).

She wondered what sound Sasuke would make.

Well, that is if they could find him.

She and Naruto had been scouring the wasteland for any trace of the raven-haired boy, but so far all they had to show for it was an empty magazine (from an overly-curious Oni scout), two sun-burnt faces and four very tired feet. They had returned to where Itachi had been taken a few days prior, and had found a symbol pointing north. Other than that, there had been no trail, no trace, no _anything_, that might have indicated the whereabouts of Naruto's troubled, but gorgeous, teammate. Sakura sighed, plopping herself down on an abandoned car.

She glared at Naruto who was roving on ahead of her.

"That is it! I'm not walking any further until _you_ calm down and _we_ come up with a plan!!"

Naruto turned his head towards her and began to protest.

"But Sakura-chan!! Sasuke is out there and every moment we waste he could be getting farther away and the less likely we are to find him! Plus-"

She held up her hand, effectively silencing the flustered blonde.

"No, what we are doing right now is a waste of time. We don't even know where to start!!!"

Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but having nothing to say, promptly shut it in the presence of Sakura's glare. Sighing, he dropped down beside Sakura and leaned his head back to rest against the rusted car.

" I'm sorry Sakura-chan, it's just that...well... without this sounding too weird... I'm....I'm...worried about him."

Sakura turned her head to look at the put-out blond. His shoulders were slumped and, much to her surprise, and he looked uncharacteristically defeated. In the short span of time she had spent in the company of the fiery blond, she had never seen him looked so upset. When she had first met him, he seemed to radiate enthusiasm and optimism, which had never ceased to amaze her. He was even able to convince her to help him find Sasuke, much to her chagrin. As cute as Sasuke was, he seemed more trouble than it was worth. But obviously he was worth something to Naruto, and the least she could do was help.

She smiled softly.

"I get it Naruto. I know Sasuke would have done the same thing if he were in your position. He would be just as worried"

Naruto's body began to convulse. In alarm, Sakura leapt to her feet, expecting the worse.

"Naruto, what's wrong!!"

All that met her ears was the sudden outpour of raucous laughter exiting Naruto's mouth.

Between fits of laughter, Naruto managed to get out a response.

"Are you KIDDING ME!!!? He would probably be praying that I step on a landmine or fall down a manhole."

Sakura's nostrils flared in annoyance.

"Then why are we out here looking for him!!?"

Wiping tears of laughter from the corner of his eyes and letting a few more chuckles pass his lips, he let a slight sliver of seriousness slip into his voice.

"Despite him being emotionally constipated, an asshole and quite probably a sociopath- " Sakura's scowl deepened "-he was my first friend-"

Sakura's scowl lessened slightly at Naruto's words.

Eyes still downcast, Naruto lips slowly formed a sad smile "-He was the only one to see through _what_ I was to see _who_ I was. As you probably guessed, I'm not the most normal guy, I mean, how many people have you met with these kind of marks?" he said, indicating to the six marks across his cheeks.

Sakura replied softly "I have to admit, I've never seen anything like it…"

Naruto nodded his head. "You see, when I first arrived at Elysium, I was really young. I had no memory of my past, and I didn't I have anyone to help me. People distrusted me because of it, which I guess makes sense in these times, but it was the level at which they hated me that made my life miserable. Itachi and Sasuke took me in and treated me like I was a long-lost brother of theirs. And without them, I don't think I'd be here today."

Sakura chewed on her lip in discomfort and put a hand on his shoulder. "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore Naruto."

He lifted his head to look at the smiling girl and a feeling of happiness spread through his body. She smiled even brighter as she began to speak.

"If we ever make our way back to Elysium, anyone that gives you a funny look will regret it." She said, eyes twinkling in delight. The corners of Naruto's mouth twitched at the look on her face, but despite it being slightly creepy, Naruto understood what she meant and gave her a smile to match her own.

"Thanks Sakura."

She winked at him. "Anytime."

For a few moments, silence reined between the two.

Suddenly, Naruto's ears twitched and he tilted his head to the side. Sakura looked at him with a questioning glance to which Naruto replied by putting a finger to his lips. Sakura nodded in understanding and slowly positioned her rocket launcher on her shoulder, heart rate increasing. She scanned the area herself for any sign of life, but could find none. She turned her attention to Naruto, who currently had his ear pressed against the ground, in the hopes that he might be able to tell her what was happening. His face scrunched up in confusion. He turned to her with puzzlement painted across his features. Sakura could feel her heart rate increasing and her breathing speed up as Naruto's face grew more confused. He furrowed his brow in concentration.

His head jerked slightly, hearing another noise.

Signalling with his hand, he pointed the direction of the unknown _thing_ that was closing in on their position. Sakura strained to hear Naruto's hushed whisper.

"Whatever it is, it is small and fast. Get ready."

Nodding her head she turned a scrutinizing eye towards the target's estimated path. She took a deep breath, trying to stem her heart beat thumping in her ears. Blood pounded through her head as she grew more anxious while the agonizingly slow seconds passed by. She gripped that handle of her rocket launcher tightly while her anxiety grew, hearing it creak in protest. The one thing she hated when she was in a fight was the calm before the storm. The landscape her and Naruto were standing in was silent, except for the now apparent clicking of the approaching entity.

_Why can't it just jump out and get it over with?_

Suddenly the sound stopped. Sakura risked a glance at Naruto, who was currently sniffing the air. Sakura raised an eyebrow at his behaviour, wondering just what he was doing. Deciding that she would file it away in her mind and ask him later, she turned her gaze back to where the noise had stopped. Her palms began to slip on her weapon and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end while heart beat increased in her ears.

_What is it doing?_

A few more moments of silence reigned over the area, then Sakura spotted a scruffy looking head of fur, two droopy ears and a pointed snout peeking at them from around a concrete divider. She almost slapped her forehead in frustration and annoyance. Here she was, freaking out that this _dog_ was going to spell the end for her. She snorted out loud and stowed her weapon onto her back once more. She began walking towards the creature, which was currently sitting next to the divider; tail wagging and she began ignoring Naruto's words of caution.

"Hey, Sakura, stay away from it! It might be dangerous! Sakura-chan! Hey, wait-"

She looked over her shoulder at the flustered blond and heaved a sigh.

"Naruto, if it was vicious, it would have run at us barking and snarling, not sit there wagging its tail"

Naruto crossed his arms in annoyance and made a frustrated whine as she continued forward. Realizing she wasn't listening anymore, he slowly followed her over to the mutt, which currently trotting out to meet Sakura, and stood protectively over her.

She crouched down to get eye-to-eye with the creature, eyes lighting up in delight as the scruffy dog rubbed its head against her hands and gave a soft 'woof'. She smiled.

"Hello there! Aren't you a precious little doggy! Where did you come from?"

As if understanding her words, the little dog turned and trotted forwards a few meters, then turned back to face them, giving another soft 'woof'. Sakura clapped her hands together in delight.

"I think it wants us to follow it!!! Naruto, isn't this awesome!"

Naruto grumbled something out under his breath and looked at his feet. Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"What was that?"

"Nothing…"

"Hey, this dog could at least lead us to other humans, and they might have seen Sasuke! At least if we follow the dog, we'd actually be doing something productive, instead of blindly wandering north."

Naruto gazed down at Sakura, his arms still crossed in frustration and let out a sigh

"I know that Sakura-chan, but don't you think it is a little weird that someone would let their dog wander around on these wastelands? I mean, it obviously has an owner or something, because it's really nice, but what if the owner wants it to lead people back to them?"

Sakura smiled menacingly. Naruto felt a shiver travel up his spine.

"Well-"she said, cracking her knuckles. "If their intent is sinister, we'll have to _dissuade_ them from that, won't we?"

Naruto gulped. Sakura was particularly scary when she used that voice. Smiling at Naruto, Sakura's sweet voice returned.

"We've got nothing to lose from this. Come on, it could be worth it" she said, nudging the poor boy in the side. Naruto frowned.

"Fine, well follow the mutt, but at least we should be cautious"

Sakura nodded. "Fair enough, you ready?"

Naruto gave her a curt nod while she smiled back at him. Turning, she skipped towards the waiting dog and gave it a pat on the head, earning a 'woof' of appreciation. The dog moved forwards again, much to Sakura's delight, and Sakura skipped after it, obviously on cloud nine. Naruto shook his head.

_This is a bad idea_

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, I-I guess this is good-bye, Sasuke-san?"

Sasuke turned to face the red-faced girl behind him. Hinata stood there, blushing, eyes glued to the floor, fiddling with her fingers. Sasuke almost let out an exasperated sigh. There was one thing he could not stand, and that was socially-inept people. Although Hinata had shown him nothing but kindness during the short amount of time he spent in her team's shelter, he found that her painful shyness was beginning to grate on his nerves. She barely made eye contact and she stuttered whenever she addressed him. After a five minute conversation with her, he felt like tearing his hair out and stepping on a landmine. And if there was one thing Sasuke loved, it was his hair.

He took a step towards the flustered girl and he noticed her face darkened into a deeper shade of red. He ground his teeth together to stop himself from saying something nasty.

"Yes it is, thank you for all you've done for me. I'll be sure to come back and visit."

Hinata raised her head nervously to meet his eyes, and quickly dropped it again.

"That's ok. We-I-I'm glad that we had the chance to meet. A-And thank you for telling us about what happened to the other recombinants. Kiba and Shino have always been protective of me, although they should really be m-more concerned about themselves, being normal and all…" she said quietly, trying to stop her stutter.

Despite himself, Sasuke rolled his eyes, glad that Hinata wasn't looking at him. But someone else was, much to Sasuke's annoyance.

"Don't roll your eyes at her, you douche-bag-" Sasuke glanced around Hinata to spot Kiba approaching the pair, cheeks red from anger. Sasuke almost rolled his eyes again. Trust the dog-boy to be listening in.

"Are you constantly stuck being like an asshole to people? Is that the only way you're able to talk to someone?" the brown-haired boy seethed out.

Normally, Sasuke would have replied, but the shorter boy seemed to have no intention of stopping. And Sasuke unfocused his eyes and tuned out when the boy started to raise his voice. Saying anything would probably put fuel to the flames.

So he waited for Kiba to finish.

The moment Sasuke had stepped into the shelter, the idiotic mutt had been on his back. Constantly watching him, distrusting him, Hell, the idiot even set his dog on him once. Of course the brown-haired freak had said that his mongrel, Akamaru, or something equally as stupid, could sense evil in people, or some other bull-shit answer. The fucking dog was lucky that Sasuke felt bad injuring animals; otherwise Sasuke would have kicked it outside and left it there to get devoured by some Oni. Apparently Kiba and the stupid dog "understood" each other, or something just as brainless. Which still didn't begin to explain the tattoos on Kiba's face. Sasuke often wondered to himself:

_How much of a tool do you have to be to have __purple__ triangles on your face?_

But Sasuke decided that he would never be able to understand how idiots worked, so he left that question for someone else to deal with.

Coming back to reality, he realized that the idiot in front of him had finally drawn to the end of his rant. Spluttering one last insult in Sasuke's face, Kiba turned around and stalked back to a very red Hinata and stood beside her. Sasuke raised an eyebrow

"I take that as a sign that you've finished?" Sasuke said calmly, watching as Kiba's face turned back into another ugly snarl. Before the boy could reply, Hinata placed a hand on Kiba's shoulder and whispered something in his ear. The snarl on his face slowly disappeared and he let out a 'huff' while crossing his arms. Sasuke decided he'd use this chance to leave. Giving Hinata a quick bow he turned to face the door and gripped the handle. The gears in the door grinded slowly and Sasuke felt the door shudder open as he pushed. Standing in the open doorway, he said one final good-bye to his hosts.

"Thank you for helping me. Good luck with everything."

With that he turned and began to close the door, when he was interrupted by Hinata's face appearing around the door. With a nervous smile on her face she spoke

"Um, if y-y-you aren't too busy, could you do m-me a favour?"

Sasuke let his shoulders slump. And he thought his nightmare with the socially-incompetent was surely over.

_So close. _

"What." he snapped without meaning to.

Hinata jumped slightly, then set a determined look on her face.

"W-Well, in your travels, i-i-if you happen to come across a boy with the s-same eyes as me and long brown hair, c-c-could you give this to him?" she said, holding out a small letter in her outstretched hand.

"His name is Neji."

Sasuke took the letter without thinking and placed it in an inner pocket of his jacket. He nodded his head. Hinata let out a radiant smile he didn't think she had in her.

"Thank you! Good luck!"

With that, she slipped back inside and Sasuke slide the door shut with a small 'bang'. He heard the gears creaking into position on the other side. He heard Kiba mumble something about 'Akamaru' and 'run-away again'.

Inhaling deeply, it took all his will power not to do a victory dance now he was out of _that_ place and the chance that Akamaru could be some Oni scouts dinner.

Deciding perhaps standing out in the open was not the best place to dance around; he began moving forwards again, hopefully towards his brother. He had talked to Hinata and her team about anything to do with a music note, and apparently there was a city further north that used one as their symbol. They warned him it was not a pleasant place, but it wasn't like that ever stopped Sasuke before.

Shifting the weight on his back, he scrambled over the pile of rumble covering the entrance to the shelter and peeked over the small embankment to see if anything was around.

Nothing.

He hopped over the side and slide all the way down, enjoying the feeling of the wind rushing past his face and his boots sliding across the rough concrete. Landing gracefully at the bottom he remained crouching, looking to see if anything had poked his head up now he was moving.

Still nothing.

Sasuke smiled to himself.

_This had the makings of a very good day._

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"_This has to be the worst day ever", _Naruto thought himself, still trudging on behind Sakura and the mutt she had so adamantly insisted on following. They had been following it for the better part of an hour, but Sakura had insisted on no breaks until they got to where the dog was headed. Naruto felt like he was going to splatter his breakfast all over the concrete if they didn't stop soon. He was about to inform Sakura of his crisis, when she suddenly stopped in front of him and Naruto bumped into her back.

"What the hell Sakura-chan! You could have-"

Naruto instantly hushed himself when Sakura quickly shot her hand up to silence him.

Something was up.

He slowly moved his head to look around Sakura and to see what she was looking at. The dog that they had been following had stopped moving, instead it had its back raised in anger and was snarling at something Sakura and himself could not see. Naruto furrowed his brow together in confusion. Normally he could sense things before anything else could, and right now, he could sense nothing.

_Probably a mouse or something_

Naruto was about to tell Sakura that the dog was defective when he heard what the dog had been alerting them about.

Footsteps.

Quickly as he could, he grabbed Sakura's arm and dragged her protesting form behind a burnt-out car. He saw that she was about to object, but he quickly shoved a hand over her mouth, effectively silencing her protests. She gazed at him with wide, emerald eyes, silently questioning him. He indicated that he had heard footsteps. She nodded and signalled that they should trade places, carefully pulling her weapon off her back and placing it on her shoulder. Naruto closed his eyes and began to concentrate on the sound.

Placing his hands on the ground, he felt the vibration of one individual, moving quickly. Taking a deep inhalation, he could smell the being: sweat, dirt and guns. Taking another sniff of the air, he smelt something else, but couldn't quite put his finger, or nose, on it. Something familiar. He wracked his brain, trying to come up with why it was so familiar.

Meanwhile, Sakura had been readying her rocket launcher with much zeal. She had been waiting so long to fire one her babies at something, and finally, she was going to have her chance. She almost giggled out loud in joy. She peeked around the car to see the little dog still snarling at the hill in front of it. Sakura let out a small 'hey' to the little creature, hopefully getting it to come back to them, but it relented. Suddenly, she saw movement at the crest of the hill. She squinted at the form, but couldn't make anything out. She was facing the sun after all. She turned back to Naruto, who seemed to be preoccupied with something else, since his brow was bunched up and he had a scowl on his face. So she turned back to wait for the individual to move down the hill.

While Sakura was preparing herself, Naruto was still trying to think about why the smell was so familiar. For some reason, every time he inhaled, he got a mixed feeling of joy and anger, which puzzled him to no end. He heard Sakura whisper to him that she was going to take out the target and felt her shift out of cover.

Suddenly, his eyes flew open

He remembered

_OH SHI-_

Sakura's finger curled around the trigger and Naruto's world slowed down as he lunged at her.

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A/N- First of all, I really want to apologize for the scarcity of updates. Freakin' writer's block. Also, I just want to add that I don't hate Hinata, she is in fact one of my favourite characters. Sasuke is a tool and that is all there is to it.

Anyway, thanks for all your reviews and support, it is mucho appreciated!


	10. Kappa

I wasn't often Sasuke lost his footing. For him, being ungraceful was up there with shooting yourself in the foot (literally) and walking around with your pants on backwards.

Yes, it was that bad.

He didn't know where his obsession with finely-tuned movement came from, but after a long thought about it, he just came up with the reflection that it showed weakness. If one was in the middle of a fight and accidently tripped over their own foot, that wouldn't put them in a very agreeable position. He'd seen it happened to quite a few men. It didn't matter if they were hulking behemoths or waif-thin skeletons; if one could not control their own movement, they were in for trouble.

This is why he was swearing so loudly as he plummeted down a small hill, head first. He later mused that if he had had a mother, she would have been horrified.

He had just climbed to the top of the small hill when he had been taken off guard and he had heard a loud snarl, followed by a bark. He had reacted by turning towards the noise, only to lose his footing on an unstable piece of ground and begin his painful plunge towards the ground. On his way down, he had also heard someone yell something , although the words were drown out by the noise of his clothed elbows scraping their way down the mound of concrete. He shuddered at the noise, and the growing pain as his battered body pitched down the incline. His body skidded to a halt at the bottom.

Cursing, he lifted his head upwards, just in time to watch in horror as a missile sailed over his head.

An explosion ripped through the air, the heat of the impact burning his exposed head. The orange flames crackled around his form and he felt his uncovered skin begin to burn. He quickly covered said unprotected appendage with his gloved hands and sleeved arms.

Shrapnel flew over him in smoky arcs. A cloud of dust enveloped him, covering him in a thick coat of grime. He felt bits of concrete pelt his back as they were ripped from their original resting places. Just as quick as it came, the noise was gone. His ears began ringing from the sound of the explosion, as well as its proximity.

Groaning, he slowly rolled his aching body onto his back to look at the floating dust particles swirling through the open air. Sasuke watched the moats of dust flutter in the breeze, with a dumb expression plastered on his face. He tried to refocus his mind, but everything was just too sluggish. He lifted his hands up to his ears, and sighed with relief since there was no blood coming out from them. He dropped his arms back down to his sides.

But he still couldn't hear anything.

Suddenly, his fingers, which lay splayed out on the cracked earth, felt the vibration of approaching foot falls. Whipping his head towards the sensation, he was surprised to see a blond male, face obscured by a black piece of material, screaming something at a smaller individual running towards him. Much to his confusion, he could hear nothing coming from the taller individual's mouth.

As in, nothing.

The only reason he knew the person was screaming was because of the erratic way in which his body was moving about. He then decided to focus his skewed attention on the smaller individual that was sprinting towards him. The small girl, from what he could tell, had dirt smeared across her face, making her seemingly pale skin eerily washed out. She had familiar pink hair, and he was trying to piece together where he had seen it before, but his sluggish brain just couldn't hack the pace. Sasuke rolled to his front again and lifted himself of the ground, wobbling slightly as he ascended. His body groaning in protest, he lifted his head up, only to come face-to-fist with an angry, glowing green fist.

Just as it fist was about to make contact with his face, his hearing resurfaced and he managed to grab onto a few words before the world exploded into a world of fiery pain:

"-GOT'CHA BITCH!!!"

Fist-to-face.

Black.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Never before in his life, had Sasuke been in such an excruciating amount of pain.

He remembered once, when he was younger, he had accidently singed off most of Itachi's hair with a laser rifle. The beating that had ensued was, at the time, the most horrible thing he had ever experienced.

But this, this added a whole new level of pain.

As in, that level needed a ladder and a rocket ship to get to this level.

His back was aching and he assumed that he was lying either on the ground or an equally uncomfortable surface. He groaned as he tried to open his eyes. Even his eyelids hurt.

_This is fucking ridiculous, how is this even possible?_

While trying in vain to open his smarting eyelids, he sensed a presence appear at his side. He stiffened in alarm, only to relax _slightly_ at the familiar female voice. Sakura.

"Umm, I'm really sorry about that punch, Sasuke. Sometimes I get a little bit too excited…"

His mind started racing. What was she doing here? How had she found him? _What the hell kind of a punch did this?_

Despite the pain radiating throughout his body, he replied:

"What the hell did you _do _to me-" he said, his speech slurring slightly since his jaw hurt as well.

As soft, tinkling laugh rose up to meet his ears, stirring his heart into a strange fluttering sensation he had never felt before. He blamed it on another ailment befalling him. He tried again to open his eyes, but to no avail.

"-And why can't I open my eyes!?"

A fit of smothered laughter rose from the girl at his side.

"Well, that's because they're swollen shut…"

Sasuke's face contorted into an ugly expression, causing him much pain in the process.

"They're _what_?!" he snarled out

"Swollen shut, when you break your nose, your eyes are also affected." She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Sasuke however, was, for once in his life, speechless.

Sakura had broken his nose.

If he had been able to see her, he would have returned the favour, but since he was currently incapacitated, he had to make do with yelling. Painful as it was.

"You broke my nose. You broke it. My nose is broken. WHY did you BREAK my nose!?" he yelled out, wincing as his jaw shot pain up into his head.

Sakura, on the other hand, was having none of it.

"Well-" she huffed out "I didn't realize you were such a baby. You wouldn't have listened to us if I hadn't knocked you out. I figure that with a little _persuasion_, you wouldn't be as tempted to run away again. And if you haven't noticed already, your nose is the only part of your face that isn't hurting-"

As Sakura was speaking, Sasuke's mind filled with horror. Maybe the only reason he couldn't feel pain in his nose was because it no longer existed, maybe there was just a big hole in his face. He began to grow more agitated as he thought progression grew more morbid.

_-maybe she amputated my nose, or-_

"-because I managed to heal it. That's one of my many skills, I'll have you know-"

"Breaking people's noses?" Sasuke mumbled under his breath.

Sakura's face twitched slightly, her cheery smile wavering. "Well, yes, that's one of them. But healing is the more important one. If you stay still a little longer, I'll finish healing the rest of your face."

"How are you going to do that?" Sasuke asked tentatively

Sakura sighed. "Well, if you really want to know, it is part of my 'gift' as a recombinant. I can direct the energy in my body to specific points and can even transfer it externally. Meaning I can have super strength and have some healing abilities. But…" she said, trailing off. Sasuke relented

"But what?"

"Well-" she said hesitantly "- it takes a lot of energy to manipulate it, as well as transferring it around my body. And healing takes even more out of me. So I don't do it that often. Consider yourself lucky."

With that, Sakura reached out towards Sasuke's face. "This might feel a little funny."

As long as it wasn't one of those mega-punches, Sasuke didn't care what it felt like.

She placed her hands, which to Sasuke's surprise, were very soft, over his eyes and focused her energy. A strange tingling sensation began to buzz through his eyelids and cheekbones. It wasn't exactly pleasant, but it wasn't that bad either. It was a warm sensation that flowed through every inch of his skin. Slowly, the pain began to subside. While Sakura focused her energies on reducing the swelling in Sasuke's face, Sasuke occupied himself with something as well

He was currently trying to stifle a blush that threatened to surface across his face. He had never had a female as attractive as Sakura come in such proximity of him before. As much as he lied to himself, he found that when he had left Naruto and her, he often thought about Sakura. It was either her dazzling smile, her dancing eyes or her lithe body that filled much of his thoughts. Instead of dreaming up new ways of decapitating Oni, he would envision her twinkling eyes smiling at him, silently informing him that she knew more about him than she was letting on. He had never seen eyes quite like hers. They were captivating.

But not like he'd ever admit that out loud.

The warmth that had been spreading throughout his upper body began to dissipate and he slowly opened his eyes, finding there was no pain. He felt his shoulders relax and his body unwind from his constant state of tense alertness. He turned his gaze towards the girl that had healed him and found that she was even more stunning than the first time he had seen her. Although this time, his vocal chords were in functioning order.

The sun was high in the sky, appearing behind her head, giving her head of cerise hair a soft glow to it. He noticed that she seemed a little paler than the last time he saw her, and there were small dark smudges beneath her eyes. Despite this, she smiled at him as he gazed at her.

"So, you feeling better?"

Sasuke nodded, still caught in her gaze of emerald. A slight blush dusted Sakura's cheeks the longer Sasuke stared at her. Breaking eye-contact, she gazed down to his shoulder to let her short hair fall in front of her face, cheeks flaming.

"I noticed you also had an injury on your shoulder, but I think we'll leave that to heal naturally. It's healthier that way. But right now, you need to rest. Sound good?" she said, still trying to conceal her glowing face.

Instead of acknowledging her question, Sasuke sat up and carefully reached out to place his hand underneath her chin. Much to Sakura's alarm, Sasuke tilted her head up to regain eye-contact with her. Her cheeks flooded with colour. Before she could get out a snappy comment, Sasuke spoke

"You're pale and tired. You need more rest than I do."

Letting herself enjoy gazing into Sasuke's onyx depths for a few moments, she quickly regained her composure, swatting his hand out from under her chin.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" she said, indignation evident in her voice.

"Exactly what it is supposed to." Sasuke replied flatly. He shifted his legs off the elevated piece of metal he was resting on and stood. He took Sakura's shoulders in his hands and moved her over to the 'bed' and pushed her into a sitting position, despite her protests. After she was successfully seated, Sasuke turned to survey his surroundings, leaning against the bench, arms crossed. It looked like a sort of abandoned warehouse of some sort. Most of the windows were caked with dust, and those that weren't, were smashed in. Parts of the roof had caved in, or had been blown apart. Boxes lay strewn across the ground and there was an odd piece of rusty machinery sitting, abandoned in the far-off corner.

Essentially, it wasn't much to look at.

Coincidently, Sasuke wondered where Naruto was just at that moment.

Turning back to face Sakura, who had reclined back onto the piece of beat-up metal he had placed her on, he asked where his annoying blond teammate was

"Where has the dobe strolled off to? Or did he step on a land mine?"Sasuke said, tone remaining flat.

Sakura remained in her rather comfy position, but wrinkled her nose at his remark.

"He was freaking out so much that I sent him to go find something. He practically shat a brick when I hit you, which, by the way, I'm really sorry for, and I thought it would be better time management to send him off to find something stupid-"

Sasuke almost congratulated her on managing to get rid of Naruto so easily.

"-and you know Sasuke, Naruto isn't that bad. He's a really sweet guy. You're lucky to have him as a friend."

Sasuke scoffed at her comment, but kept quiet for a few moments. But before he could stop the words from coming out of his mouth, they were already out in the open

"I know."

Sakura sat up in alarm

"Oh my god! What have I done! I must have loosened something up there!" she said, scrambling to his side. Grasping him by his shoulders, she looked him straight in the eyes, sparkling, mocking smile painted across her lips.

"It's ok Sasuke, I can fix this!" she said, mock-concern finding its way into her voice. Edging closer to his face by standing on her toes, she scrutinized his facial features, much to Sasuke's discomfort. He watched as her eyes flicked downwards to his lips, then back up to his eyes. He began to feel the urge to lean forwards just a little more…

Suddenly, Sakura flicked him on the nose and planted her feet back down on the ground.

"Nope, nothing serious. Just a momentary lapse in your 'holier-than-thouitis'. Nothing serious." She said, eyes twinkling with mirth.

Sasuke smirked at the pink-haired girl. "Would you like a pat on the back for coming up with that all by yourself?"

Laughing, Sakura hopped back up onto her temporary metal seat. Sasuke liked her better when she laughed. Her eyes sparkled more.

A comfortable silence reigned between the two. Sasuke felt compelled to ask her how they had found him. He figured that there was no use running away, since Sakura would, without hesitation, punch his lights out again. As well as the fact that they had managed to track him down, meaning Naruto and Sakura weren't completely useless.

"How did you find me?" Sasuke asked

Sakura cocked her head to one side and looked at him. "Well, it was a little bit of luck, skill and my sheer awesomeness."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow

Sakura looked scandalized by the simple action. Her cherry lips opened in disbelief and her eyes darkened

"What was that for?! It's true!"

Sasuke shrugged, arms still crossed. "I heard a dog barking. I figured that had something to do with it."

Scandalized look wiped off her face, Sakura smiled brightly. "Oh yea, we found a dog on the Wastes, and we followed him and then you popped up in our path. That's the luck part. Naruto is out with him right now. They should be back soon-"

Just as the words left her mouth, she was interrupt by a loud yell

"SAUKE-TEME!!"

Without any warning, Sasuke felt a large weight crashing into his back, making him tumble to the floor, clawing at whatever was on top of him. Which happened to have a blonde head of hair.

"Get off dobe. Now" he said as flatly as possible.

Instead, Naruto remained sitting on top of the Uchiha, enjoying crushing his best friend into the floor

"I don't know whether to beat you up or be happy we found you, teme" Naruto said, smiling all the while.

Sakura let out a small laugh at the boys' antics. It was a wonder they were even friends, but she mused, with a tinge of sadness, that they were a lot like her and Ino. Ino was the gorgeous, out-going blonde; meanwhile she had been awkwardly thin. Remembering the night Ino had been taken from her only brought tears to her eyes. And that was the last thing she wanted to do in front of these boys. Sighing sadly to herself, Sakura regained her composure and wiped at the dampness forming around her eyes.

Too late

"Hey Sakura- chan, are you alright?"

Sakura looked up to see Sasuke, looking dishevelled, and Naruto, looking like he had just had his face rubbed into the floor, gazing at her with concern.

She gave them a big smile.

"Yep I'm fine. Say, Naruto, what happened to the dog?" she said, trying to change the subject.

Naruto smiled brightly, blinding her with the gleam of his teeth. Well, almost

"You'll never guess what Sakura-chan!! That dog actually belonged to someone! He was leading us towards them. Anyways, I met them and they were really nice and one of them offered that we could stay with them for the night."

Sasuke watched as Sakura deliberated between the choices. Her pink tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth and her large eyes gazed upwards thoughtfully. A small wrinkle formed in her forehead as she pressed her brow together in thought. She absent-mindedly started to chew on her lip, focused completely on decision making.

Then he realized he was staring and Sakura had realized it. He quickly snapped his gaze away, a blush creeping across his face.

"Well, it sounds kind of dangerous Naruto. What if they only offered it up so that they could steal from us or worse?"

Naruto 'pffed' her response

"I said that about the dog, and everything turned out ok, so I don't really see anything going wrong. Plus the people were really really really nice!"

Sakura smiled at Naruto. "Ok, I trust you, but we should still be cautious. Plus, I could use a proper bed!" she skipped over to Naruto. Turning back, she realized Sasuke was standing there hesitantly.

"And Sasuke, we could use this time to plan our route north. That's where you're going, right?"

He nodded

"Good-" Sakura chirped, clapping her hands together "Naruto, lead the way!"

The three walked out of the side of the warehouse, Sakura happily linking arms with the two boys.

"So what are the owner's names Naruto?"

"Well, there was a pretty girl, and her name was Hinata-"

Suddenly, Sakura and Naruto were stopped in their tracks because Sasuke had decided to stop abruptly. They both looked to him to yell at him, when the realized he was as white as a sheet. He looked at them, with the most frightening look he could summon.

"Fuck. No."

They would have argued, but he seemed to be radiating a physical manifestation of hatred.

Sakura groaned.

_Here we go_

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**A/N:** hope you guys enjoyed that chapter! I'll hopefully be updating with more regularity now that everything is back to normal.

Cheers to the reviewers!


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